You Are My Dream
by NaniWise
Summary: (meister AU). The king, Lvellie and his children have been assassinated and the prime suspect of the crime is Neah D. Campbell. Mana crosses demensions to reunite with his brother only to find he is in danger of execution but he is willing to give up anything to save him from this fate.
1. Part I Chapter I

Happy holiday season, everybody. I own nothing and this fanfic was inspired by the wonderful pixiv artist しゅみこ or Shumiko. Anyways, good day and God bless. Please enjoy and review!

That night was so very special to him.

He would never forget how the stars shone so bright that they seemed to blur together into one crystalized entity with no definable colour.

The image reflected back in his golden eyes.

There amongst the ferns and the leaves, the vines that tied him by his wrists and ankles and the little bushes of thorns and wild berries that tangled with his long bronze hair rendering him trapped on that forest floor.

Every breath felt as though his lungs would be crushed and yet he never felt more free than at that moment.

His skin bled blood and his eyes bled tears.

His whole being ached to the point that he could hardly stay conscious but it was nothing compared to the pain he endured over the last five years.

The smile on his face felt odd like tugging on soar muscles.

Despite this, he laughed and his laugh echoed through the silent night.

There the young man of only twenty years lay.

There Mana D. Campbell lay

"Did…. Did you have to go through this, to?"

"Did you…. Cry?".

Memories of a laughing, adventurous, kind and brave child flooded his weary mind.

They, being all he had left anymore, brought warmth and heavy sadness to his heart. When he thought of that bright face, that someone that brought him such happiness and stripped him of all his worries, all his dreams of success, all the social exception , all the expectations of those older than him failed miserably in comparison.

Because, in the end, he was his dream and all he wanted out of life.

But he could not spend all night out here in the wilderness gazing up at the stars.

The owl hooted in the distance and the rats screeched in the grass. Even the wind itself seemed to be calling him to action and he complied eagerly.

He pressed His palms against the ground and pushed. His body felt as though it was that sack of potatoes from his childhood that he could never pick up with his skinny arms. He remembered someone that could, though.

He would have thrown it over his shoulder like it was nothing with that grumpy look. He was always like that when it came to lots of work.

Remembering made him laugh and laughing again weakened his muscles and he hit the ground.

Worry not. He tried again and succeeded this time.

His hair fell in front of his face like a bronze veil and made it rather difficult to traverse this shadowy terrain.

His knees were so close to buckling.

He just wanted to sleep.

In the end, those thoughts triumphed over his resolve and his mission.

He was fast asleep long before he hit the wet dirt.

Five years ago, on a starry night just like this, his brother, his wonderful brother came to him and told him something.

He told him that he was going somewhere far away and probably would never come back to that mansion.

He said he found some sort of portal. Some sort of gateway to another land.

One of Mana's biggest regrets in his whole life was not going with him that night.

He was scared to go, despite being the older of the two.

He did not want to leave his future, all that he had built up for himself behind. He did not want to leave thier mother alone, thier poor sickly but so very kind mother.

Honestly, he did not know whether or not that night was a dream. It easily could have been.

And yet when he awoke, his brother was gone, missing without a trace.

He thought nothing of it till days turned to weeks and loneliness became far too much for him to bare. He had never been without his twin for even a single day. He had a hard time functioning mentally.

They told him that he was dead but he never believed them. He chose rather to believe in that faint memory of the night he disappeared.

He worked so hard to find anything. Anything to lead him to a trail.

Despite how faint it was, he never stopped trying.

The day his mother passed away was the day he finally found it.

In attempt to run away from everything, he came across a simple and seemingly endless hole at the foot of a wild peach tree surrounded by the most brilliant blue roses.

It didn't take a scientist to know it was special.

Mana realize that what was before him was what one might call a stable wormhole. A link between two different times that would remain stable as long as relatively undisturbed.

Even if after five years it would be relatively stable, Mana let himself fall through with relatively little fear because even if this did kill him, he had already lost everything.

But here he was in a forest where there was none before and a feeling that maybe, sometimes, dreams did come true.


	2. Part I Chapter II

Hello and how are we doing today? I hope we are doing swell! Here's yet another chapter of my wierd and long winded Christmas gift to fanfiction!. Anyways, please enjoy and gave an amazing day!

But that night, aside from all his regret and hope, all the turmoil and loneliness he endured, he experienced a new and fairly odd dream. One he had never had before.

The atmosphere was warm despite the white snow that fell all around him.

He was sitting down on the ground with his legs crossed and wearing the most ridiculous clothing he ever did lay eyes on. A clown suit of things.

Sitting just across from him was a small mound of dirt.

Instinctively, he knew He dug the hole himself.

But he was sad. So sad, he felt as though he couldn't even cry.

The name Allen came to mind.

His dog. His dog died.

He remembered thinking that it was sad because first his brother, then thier mother and then the only friend had left in the world now lay under a pile of dirt.

He was so sad.

And yet;

"Why am I the only one that ever cries?!".

A child's voice. He turned his head to see that there was someone sitting beside him.

A small sobbing child with bright red hair and no older than seven years old.

He felt a sudden and unexpected warmth in his heart.

He was fond of this child. He'd even go as far as to say that he loved him.

Red was the name of the child.

The child.

His child.

His son.

His beloved son.

His little Red.

He did not remember ever having a dream that felt so real, so vivid.

He could still feel the child's warmth as he held him in his arms even as he drifted into consciousness with the gentle touch of rain on his face.

Red did not feel like a figment of his imagination and et he left that dream behind with thought of what exactly he'd get him for Christmas and how he'd get the money.

For a moment, he felt healed. He felt whole.

And then it all fell through his fingertips like sand in the wind.

He did not want it to go.

All of it went black and he was awake.

The thunder roared and the skies churned overhead.

His ears rung dully and his mouth was dry.

Suddenly, a face staring back at his came into focus.

A man stood above him. Raindrops fell from his dark skin and hair but what stood out to Mana despite his current state were the five simple brands on his forehead. They were cross's. He wondered if it was painful when he first got them. He wondered if he cried like he did when he came through the portal for the first time.

But more than that, he wondered what year it was.

"Pardon me, sir," Mana breathed "But can you inform me of what year it is?".

The man smiled in such a way that told Mana that he was dangerous.

"It's the thirty first century, 3055." He said.

Mana repeated that back, so relieved he came to the right time.

His brother disappeared in 3005 and should have been transported fourty five years forward. It seemed the two sides of the wormhole were consistent with eachother and just as his time went on, so did the time on the other end.

He would have been less happy if a twenty year old him met with a fifteen year old someone.

Now they'd be the same age, just as twins should be.

But it was only now that, amongst his thoughts, he realized he was being carried and by the same man that he spoke to before at that.

He was closer this time and the world wasn't spinning so he got a better look at him.

To his surprise, the resemblance to someone he hadn't seen in quite a few years was uncanny.

Though, he was very doubtful that it was him. The way he smiled was off and not the way he remembered his brothers smile.

He was his twin brother and he could always know things that no one else could possibly know.

And, to his surprise, the man stopped.

He looked at him, seemingly confused and was about to say something.

He then lifted his head and declared to the distance "Cyril! Get down here!".

He began to distinguish the sound of large metal slates spinning at rapid speeds and other men shouting in the distance. He lazily turned his head to the scene.

Before them was a massive metal ship with wings that spanned several yards and a great propeller at the nose.

Man were running here and there like ants getting food, thier foreheads covered by goggles and thier clothes caked in black oil.

After a moment, a rather fancily dressed man, a noble came from the crowd, cane and all.

His face was rather snake-like and he appeared to be quite disgusted with his surroundings. Mana immediately noticed that he, to had the brands on his head but he did not think he cried when he got them.

As soon as he caught sight of them, he seemingly grew frantic and rushed forward, running a hand through his perfectly dark hair.

"Tyki!" He cried out "You found him? And so soon-? Is he-!".

"Calm down!" Said the man, trying to speak over the sound of the propeller "He's alive but several of his bones are crushed! You need to take him to the infirmary!".

The man known as Cyril looked perplexed.

"But there are already so many! They will never get to him in time!"

"This is top priority, Cyril!".

His face went from frantic to stern and cold. He gazed at him through his spectacle and grimaced.

"Take him to my office." He said and immediately the one he called Tyki followed.

He faded in and out of consciousness for the trio but he was suddenly awakened by what he first thought to be a gunshot but he immediately convinced himself that that could not be right. He did, however know they were inside the ship. The propeller sounded rather distant now.

The light of a shaken oil lamp filled Mana's vision as he way lain down on a desk he could only assume was Cyril's.

He was not entirely sure what he was doing here.

He felt as though he was forgetting something vital and yet he could not think of what it was.

But if he could see through the walls of that little room, all he would have seen was the man known as Tyki talking to a child.

A boy no older than ten who saw the world through one working eye and touched his surroundings with one workings arm.

A boy with no dreams, no hopes or joy in his large silver eyes.

A boy now known to most as Red Mikk.


	3. Part I Chapter III

Miss me? Darn thing was erased. Had to rewrite it. Anyways, good day and God bless!

Mana was fully aware that there were those in this grand world of ours that had abilities that were abnormal and not all possessed.

He just never expected to find one here of all places.

He was unaware, however, that one could dream and become extremely fond of someone they had never met before.

Despite only seeing them once, he'd recognize those silver eyes anywhere as those of an actor if a beautiful dream.

But his eyes kept falling to the light of a same silver shade coming from his hand in heavy crystalline streams.

It was beautiful, captivating, dreamlike and yet Tyki who stood by his shoulder always demanded he look into the boys eyes.

"If you look into the light, you'll fall asleep."

He didn't understand and despite how much he longed for sleep, he headed the mans words.

Mana struggled greatly to steady his breathing and sit up properly in that great bearskin chair just to look into them.

Though a little older, those same red bangs framed his face and cascaded down his shoulders. He thought that was odd because he somehow knew how much he didn't like his long hair.

In many ways, that reminded him of a certain someone who thought long hair was feminine, wrong and a pain to deal with.

These sorts of thoughts flooded him like the serene waves of the ocean so his pain remained almost forgotten.

But he was only partially aware that whatever this boy and Tyki were doing, it was healing him. He could feel his wounds close and his bones twist back in the way they were meant to go.

He was willing to pin the reason for this on some sort of magic being that the two people performance seemingly impossible surgery were a heavy smoker and a ten year old and the patient was completely conscious.

Sometimes, those older than you will try to convince you that you've seen everything but this certainly was a new one.

But somehow he felt less whole

Though agony was what it was and it's company was hard to tolerate, it made him feel as though wasn't Mana. He didn't think about thier mother, Katrina or how silly he was not to go with his dearest brother. His head didn't hurt from all the regret.

Now it all came back to him like a storm at sea, far less serene.

He grew irritated with how sluggishly he moved and how his tongue only slurred whispers. Impatience began nawing at his heart.

He just really wanted his brother back.

He didn't want to think about his mother's funeral.

He just wanted to to sleep.

He wanted to be child without responsibilities or worries.

He just really wanted to be selfish for once.

But soon enough, he found that the pain had half disappeared and he found himself sitting up with little trouble.


	4. Part I Chapter IV

Back again. How are you all doing? Please enjoy and review!

The child he thought to be Red had sat himself down on a stool and Tyki stood beside him.

"What did you…. Do?".

It just felt wierd not to ask even if he had a plausible explanation.

"Your ribcage was crushed." Tyki stated simply "We took the pleasure of fixing it."

It was such a statement. One he never thought he'd experience and one he'd never heard of another experiencing.

"Thank you, but how…?".

"What is your name, kid?" He said.

If Mana had experience in anything, it was introducing himself but his senses were overridden by memory.

He remembered a long time ago, someone very important to him said that if they were to ever run away from home, they should use code names as to not be traced back home. That code name was "Walker."

"Did you forget your name?".

"N-No," He said "It's Mana Walker, sir."

"Hello, Mana. My name is Tyki Mikk and this" He said as he gestured to the boy on the stool "Is my brother, Red."

Now that was definitely suspicious. How could he know the name and face if someone he never met before?

Was it a vision of the future? Fate? He hardly believed in such things.

However, he could not deny that he was the boy from his dream.

"Now," Said Tyki "I need you to tell me something."

"Yes?".

"What is your connection with the fourteenth Jabberwock?".

There was a silence which was slowly followed by a light chuckle.

Mana was never be to act so rudely but he couldn't help it. He had never heard of such a word before, not in all his time at the academy. He could put up with catywampus and bumfuzzle but Jabberwock was just to much.

"A Jabber-what?".

"You don't know, then?".

"No….I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Tyki sighed heavily as he set himself down on a wooden stool beside his brother "None of them ever do. But you'll find out, soon."

"I have a question….sir."

"It's Tyki."

"Okay, Tyki,… but…" He found himself becoming nervous at just how much this man resembled his brother, fiddling with his thumbs and such "But do I have to stay here?".

"Yes, you do."

"Oh… For how long?".

"What a hurry you're in." He stated sarcastically "Why, are you looking for someone?".

"Um.…"

"Doesn't matter." Tyki stated quickly "You'll be here for the next two days and then you'll be moved to the state dungeon."

"T-T-The dungeon?!" He sputtered "Why am I going there?! What have I done?!".

He tried to sit up only to be pushed down by the cold cold hand of the injured shoulder he was completely unaware he had. It shocked him quite alot. So much that he just sat back down, completely silent with eyes the size of dinner plates and ears half the size.

"I-Its okay," Tyki said, attempting to reassure him "You're not a criminal. It will just be your new home for the foreseeable future."

At that, Mana ceased his cringe and said to him in a rather raspy voice "Is it nice there?".

But then he got back on point.

"Wait, that sounds like a really long time!".

"Is there any where you need to be?".

"W-Well, um, why do I have to go!?".

"Stop panicking."

"And how do I know if I can trust you? You could be lying to me or trying to make me do something really bad!".

"I said stop panicking!".

And with that, he slapped Mana right across the face.

The truth of what just happened was blunt and simple because what truly happened and the pain of it had not truly set in.

When it did, Mana whimpered quietly.

He had not been hit in the face for a week now because the death of his pure perfect sweet mother meant the death of the only person who ever did hit him.

The disappearance and apparent death did not only effect him.

After that, it was almost as though she could no longer put up with him mentally anymore.

Like it was a strain on her mind to even pretend like she loved him.

It didn't matter anyway. He'd always love her more than anything.

Suddenly, he began to feel very sleepy.

When he looked into Tykis eyes, he saw the same sort of eyes in him as he did his mother. Perhaps he was just very hard to deal with to both these people. Perhaps he brought back bad memories in both.

He was sorry. Even if he was a stranger, he did not want to make thix person feel that way.

But none the less, those ideas calmed him down and made him feel familiar with his surroundings. His thoughts were now organized and he began to speak very softly.

"You treated me like I was special. Surely there is another reason you would want me here?".

Tyki sighed again but looked relieved like he got a very large burden off his chest.

And then he just said it.

"Well, because of the fourteenth death, you're here to become the fifteenth Jabberwock."


	5. Part I Chapter V

Hello! I hope we've all had a delightful Yom Kippur!

The song Mana be labeled "Becoming the Jabberwock" was something he had heard at least twelve times from the lips of Cyril Camelot and something he now knew by heart.

It was a sad song and yet the only thing he could hear above the sound of the wind rushing by, the engines roaring like angry lions and his own boredom.

In a small concrete space with an area of twenty five point three feet, Mana found himself locked behind a row of solid iron bars that gave him rusty splinters every time he touched them.

Tyki told him once that he wasn't thier hostage but he didn't believe him.

It was so boring in his cell, he thought he'd die or cry and yet all he could muster was one really loud sigh.

The boy from his dreams, Red payed him no mind at all. Mana tried to get him to speak a few times just for all this to feel a little bit more real.

He could not get comfortable, his back ached, he could only listen to that song so many times, he was freezing cold and that breeze in the corner was really getting on his nerves.

On top of all this, his boredom and impatience were driving him mad.

When he'd think about what Tyki, or as the men called him, the Bandersnatch said about being in a dungeon for the foreseeable future, he felt panic rise up inside him. He didn't come here to stay in some cold room without windows and become something called the "Jabberwock". He came here for his brother so that he might find some happiness in life and get rid of all this guilt that kept him up at night.

He came here to escape the professors, the suitors and most if all, any person that came just to tell them that they were sorry for his loss.

It was just as he thought. They were going to make him do something he really didn't want to do.

What if this Jabberwock thing consumed his mind. Worse, what if it consumed the innocent. Even worse, what if it consumed children.

He'd be a monster. He'd be despised by everyone, even the person he came here for.

But then it hit him.

Why did he think his brother would so easy to find.

This was a whole different world and he could be anywhere on land, ocean or underground. What if he wasn't even in this world anymore.

What if he was adopted by another family, got new brothers and sister and had long forgotten his existence. What if he didn't care.

What if he didn't even want to see him.

That would make sense. He missed his chance. He was scared so he screwed up. That was always the case. He was never brave like his brother.

He said he'd regret not going, didn't he? On the night he left?

He was always right, wasn't he.

And it was morbid thoughts like these that led Mana to his current time waster.

Repeatedly hitting his soft forehead against the cold concrete wall.

He felt like he was going insane, some how.

How did he know he was not? He threw away his future and jumped into a rabbit hole for crying out loud just to search for his presumed deceased brother. What about this situation he found himself in was not crazy?

But then again, what about this felt fake? He even pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming but he didn't feel tired at all. The pain, the tears and, most of all, the stars he saw that night were so real that he knew for a fact that this was reality.

And yet what did it matter? Reality did not release the locks and him being conscious didn't get him out of this horrible situation.

He was bored, depressed and confused. It wasn't too violent, just enough to break the skin.

But, oh boy, did it hurt.

That brought another thought to mind.

Red had it, to. The brands on his forehead.

They weren't brown and old like Tykis or Cyril's. His were red, still fresh and scaring over.

Mana knew he cried when it happened. In all honesty, it looked as though he was still crying about it to this day.

That took his mind off his own pain.

What kind of awful people did that to a child so young. That was a monstrous thing to do.

And as a large amount of fatherly rage filled him he began to think back to escaping because that was the most logical choice in this situation.

Everything about this place and these people was not right and he wanted no part of this Jabberwock business.

He began to catch his breath.

He began to think.

He began to feel.

He let his achy ankles carry his weight and stood, preparing to investigate his general environment.

He learned in his two decades that anything and everything man-made has a pothole and can be escaped if you know where to look.

He pulled his sleeves over his palms and began to pull and yank at the bars.

Surely something, anything was there that could be worked through.

He would squeeze his body through the thin space of the bars if he knew he'd survive the trip.

Anything.

Anything.

Soft footsteps came in through the doorway and Mana keeper two feet in the air like a scared cat.

"Goodness, Red!" He declared, instantly recognizing the small boy "Don't scare me like that!".

The face Red took up was priceless. He'd never seen a child blow his cheeks out like that. Technically, he hadn't seen kids in general. It wasn't that kids didn't like him or that he didn't like children. It was far more that thier mothers always deemed him creepy or dangerous for reasons he could not understand.

He worried that he might have the same effect on Red because he hadn't said a word since he met him again.

No. Not again. He kept having to remind himself that he did not know this boy nor did he know him and thinking otherwise would just get him into trouble.

"Sorry." He apologized "I should not have raised my voice."

Red looked even more confused.

"Now let's see what you've got there." Mana said, noticing the bronze tray in the boys hands.

Red stepped forward and sat down on his usually stool.

There, he took a sandwich and pen in the same hand and a notepad in the other.

The odd thing was that he blinked very quickly band the sandwich disappeared from sight leaving only one chewing Red with a pen and notepad in hand.

"What on earth….?" He thought to himself.

Red began to write, which surprised Mana because only very rich children knew how to write in his time. Perhaps this time was better than his in that aspect.

His writing was quick and simple. When he was done, he lifted it for Mana to see.

"Why do you share the current Jabberwock's face?" It read in neat cursive.

"Again with thus Jabberwock business." He groaned "I don't have the slightest what it means."

He tapped his words twice with his pen.

"I don't know, Red." But then it struck him "Wait, do you mean to tell me the Jabberwock is a person?".

"Yes. The Jabberwock is a power. The vessel is a human." He wrote.

That somehow made a great deal of sense in Mana's already dazed head.

"Vessel, huh?" He said "And also, what do you mean by current? If there is a current Jabberwock, why do I have to be the vessel for this power?".

Now he just looked surprised. Or maybe hungry. Or maybe he had to pee. Mana wasn't sure.

"Good." He wrote "You catch on fast."

"Thank you." Somehow it satisfied him to be praised by the boy he thought was his son.

"The current Jabberwock, Jabberwock the is," He wrote in a much more rushed and squiggly manner that Mana could hardly read especially the word "The" "Is to be executed tomorrow publicly."

"Executed? Why? That is horrible."

But before he spoke, Red was already writing his response on the same page.

He seemed hesitant, Mana noted, almost as though this particular subject was taboo.

Just what exactly had this previous Jabberwock done to deserve execution?

But Red pushed through the writings and finished with a sigh.

And oddly enough, Mana only now realized that this boy was mute.

Guilt clawed violently at the wounds in his raw heart. He almost felt like crying. He could talk in his dream. His voice was beautiful like music and now, for some reason, that voice was gone.

It was tragic but he loved him all the same, even if he did hardly know him.

Wait, he did know him. He was his son. He knew that much for sure.

"Jabberwock The," He wrote "Is charged with the murder of King Lvilie, prince Tokusa, duchess Tewaku, Duke Madarao, lord Goushi, princess Kiredori and prince Howard. The entire royal family slaughtered in one night."

That was horrible. Simply terrible. So terrible, it made him sick.

But something drew his mind off of that. Just briefly.

There was that wierd "The" in the boys writings capitalized like it was a name. Then again, all the other names where foreign to him as well but how could he poorly write the same word twice in the same manner. But then he looked and noticed that the letters that made up the "The" were in other words where they shouldn't be.

The T was in the place of the N.

The H was in the place of the E.

The E was in the place of the A.

No.

That's impossible.

Because.

That's the name of….

That certainly sounds like….

The name of the only dream he ever truly treasured.

That sounds like the name of his beloved brother.

Suddenly all thoughts of execution and Jabberwocky were gone like sand in the wind.

Nea was not a commonplace name in his time so why would it be in this one? There was always the chance that what he was thinking was completely wrong but what was it that Red had just wrote?

"Why do you share the current Jabberwock's face?".

His heartbeat quickened to a beat he didn't quite know possible and his blood turned cold.

Murderer? His brother may have looked very tough and cold but he was the best person on the planet in Mana's wide golden eyes.

"Nea…." He said the name he hadn't dared to say in so many years so very slowly "Is not a murderer."

Red looked confused, almost scared. Mana hardly noticed.

To make such an accusation was false and false things needed to be attended to immediately.

"Nea would never kill someone in cold blood…."

He stood to his feet, looking prepared to run for his life, but that's when Mana said it.

"And I, Mana D. Campbell will prove this wrong…".

That done it.

Mana had no way of knowing this, but Red wore a chain around his neck. It was a gift from an old friend and on it did hang one single golden and weighty bead.

But at the words of Mana, there was a pop, a crack and a nibble and that bead shot straight in the air like some sort of magnet had attracted it.

Both individuals in the room were far to confused to understand what was going on, but this was Timcapmy. A golden golem who's password for activation was the full name of the makers beloved brother, "Mana D. Campbell".

Once it sprouted it sprouted it's large golden wings, it popped from from its chain and through straight towards the lock on the bars.

Mana opened his eyes in fear, but once he opened them, the lock was long gone and in its place was a small golden creature with sharp teeth lining it's face.

"T-Timcampy?!" Mana cried in utter distress.

Nostalgia reminded him that this was the creature his brother Nea, always drew as a child. One of his grandest dreams was to create this little robot friend. It nearly brought tears to his eyes to see it here.

"You beautiful creature!" He cried as he clutched it to his chest.

He could never have seen this coming. There was a God and he answered his prayers.

Red was the first to react.

He took off out of the room with Mana at his tail.

"Wait!" He cried.

In an act of desperation, he clawed his hand forward.

He didn't expect to actually catch anything.

He snagged his finger on the back of his colar and the boy was thanked backwards while he was pulled forward violently into a kneeling position.

Once all the motion stopped, Mana opened his eyes.

"Ow…." He groaned. The slip had made him skin his knees on the concrete floor but when he opened his eyes, he saw some far more horrifying.

Somehow, the boy landed on his back with his head in his lap.

He looked paniced and too scared to move but that's not what horrified him.

Along his neck was a scare. A long and large scar in the shape of a man's hand.

That's when he saw the truth.

It was no accident he was mute. Some monster ripped out his vocal cords.

If Nea saw him, he'd think he was ridiculous, crying over the misfortune of some child he hardly knew but this, this was far to much.

He let the tears fall softly on the boys cheeks.

"I won't let them hurt you anymore." He muttered "Never again."

And with that, he pulled himself and the boy up, taking the boy in his arms as he sprinted across the hall to where he knew to be the nearest window. The fact that it was bared up no longer concerned him.

Dreams did come true, prayers were answered, Nea was alive and he did gave a chance to give this boy the life he deserved.

But something was still on his mind.

Nea, his wonderful brother, would never murder someone.


	6. Intermission

I own nothing. Neither Jabberwocky poem nor dgm. This poem does have relivence in the plot line. Please enjoy. Good day and God bless.

"Now listen and listen well."

"Only once will I explain."

"To rid you of ignorance."

"To spare you the pain."

"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves "

"Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:"

"All mimsy were the borogoves,"

"And the mome raths outgrabe."

"The blood you bled was planned."

"Tears to be shed desired."

"Our lawful pleasure is grand."

"His untimely demise admired."

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!"

"The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!"

"Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun,"

"The frumious Bandersnatch!"

"When black Stars fall,"

"When men's fingers grow anxious,"

"When we loose it all."

"When earthly kings are gracious."

"He took his vorpal sword in hand;"

"Long time the manxome foe he sought— "

"So rested he by the Tumtum tree"

" And stood awhile in thought."

"When eyes cry gold."

"When lips sing healing."

"When the cowards are bold."

"When the abyss brings meaning."

"And, as in uffish thought he stood,"

"The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,"

"Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,"

"And burbled as it came."

"When the sky gives rain."

"When children lead the strong."

"When we never speak again."

"When all our teeth have gone."

"One, two! One, two! And through and through"

"The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!"

"He left it dead, and with its head"

"He went galumphing back."

"When that time should arrive"

"And you should see it come".

"When daft men come alive"

"And wise men drink rum."

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? "

" Come to my arms, my beamish boy!"

"&O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!".

"He chortled in his joy."

"Your skin will be brittle."

"You'll lay mad on the stone."

"Your comfort will be little."

"You will be broken and alone."

"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves ."

"Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:"

"All mimsy were the borogoves,"

"And the mome raths outgrabe."

"Now listen and listen well."

"Only once will I explain."

"To rid you of ignorance."

"To spare you the pain."

"I know that you mourn."

"Your face is wet with agony."

"But your fate is inevitably"

"To become the next of the Jabberwocky."


	7. Part II Chapter I

Happy holloween, everybody. I own nothing and this fanfic was inspired by the wonderful pixiv artist しゅみこ or Shumiko. This is like a Christmas gift to myself because this series makes me really sad. Yes, I am rewriting this because the writing in the original was not very good. I hope you enjoy it all the same, though. Anyways, good day and God bless. Please enjoy and review!

When the purest light flooded his empty mind, Nea tasted consciousness for the first time in several hours.

He had seen this garden of stars before.

It's beauty was deceptive. This was his chamber of torment.

Twinkling like fading beauty and arranged with no specific pattern, they contrasted the shadows and stood there, firmly rooted into the earth where they shouldn't be.

Thier strong stems were tall towers of undressed and jagged stone that appeared like columns of smoke drawn in time.

The flow of the water in the man made waterway that they stood in had them spinning gently like a lullaby for an anxious infant or a beautiful and youthful ballerina dancing to an unheard melody.

He could not seem to tell which direction they were spinning. The sight was captivating, almost hypnotic. It was enough to make him dizzy.

As feeling retreated to his toes and fingertips, he became aware of the cold against his wrist and the air under his feet.

This was not the brief prison of peace he knew.

Where were the mages that kept him down? The seals that kept him under? The cords that kept his bound?

Why was he all alone? Where had they all gone?

The oil that he once slept in like a grave clung to his bronze locks and fell on his cheek like inhuman tears, tickling his skin.

He felt it slip down his body and off his few clothing articles then off the tips of his toes to a nearby surface he hung above.

The rusty chains around his wrists that suspended him above the ground tightened abruptly, bringing him just a little closer to full consciousness.

His lungs burned as he gasped for air and coughed the oil from his throat.

He could hardly breath. He could hardly think.

When those things were absent, it seemingly lessened the pain from the impact as his limp body suddenly hit the cold marble tiles without warning.

It felt as though his existence was fading from this world, like his body was covered in a thick mold that numbed his nerves and joints

His skin was wet and raw, his golden eyes unfocused and bloodshot.

He cried out silently to the deaf ears he found at every corner of his world. He had never felt this weak before.

With a single shaking hand, he clawed for any sort of wet to hold onto as though he were falling from a very far height.

Once he found a spot in-between the tiles, he grabbed onto it with all his might and pulled himself forward without any clear knowledge of where exactly he was going.

He knew he had to get away.

That he was sure of.

But sure enough, a blurry image came into view, a figure of black smoke with no clear shape.

With the sound of light footsteps, it approached him and the meaningless image turned into the slim figure of a human being cloaked in pure black with a bird, a crow rooster on his shoulder.

His slick black hair was pulled from his forehead with a pin to reveal the toxic stigma crested upon his dark skin.

Despite the fatigue, Nea recognized him immediately.

Every citizen of Wonderland knew his face be it the personification of thier wildest dreams or grandest nightmares.

As he pushed himself up with the palms of his hands, he gazed into the face of the man who had haunted him for several years, now.

Tyki Mikk, otherwise known as the Bandersnatch.

He looked down on him as though he were a snake looking down on his prey with yellow eyes and teeth intended to tare innocence to shreds.

"Good morning Jabberwock." He hissed bitterly.

He immediately struck Nea across the face, nocking him off his balance and sending him to the smooth marble floor with a thud.

Nea felt something hard on his tongue. It was one of his teeth.

"What is this?" He gurgled out the words through saliva and blood.

"It's odd," Said Tyki as he circled around him "Seeing the once most powerful creature in all of Wonderland reduced to such a state. I don't consider it to be pleasant."

"What is this!?" He roared to the best of his ability, fully aware that if Tyki were allowed to ramble, he could seemingly ramble on forever.

He knelt down beside him and took hold of a chunk of his hair. He forced his head up so that thier eyes met and to Nea's surprise, he saw pain.

Tyki was about to do something he really did not want to do.

That surprised him because he had seen this indifferent man murder several women and children with his own hands barring a perfect smile on his face, so why? What worse crime could possibly have made him hesitant?

"Your wish is granted." He breathed, breath laced heavily in the scent of cigarette smoke that made Nea sick "Your sentence has… changed."

"What do you mean, 'changed'?".

Tyki sigh heavily, giving hint that this past day was exhausting for him.

Nea understood why, what with the Jabberwock, the vessel for the prime source of the city's energy on death row with absolutely no hope of a replacement arriving anytime soon.

There must be riots, panic in the general populace and the sudden decrease in energy, food supplies and pure water was sure to cause terror.

In more ways than one, Nea pitied the man for all the world must put on his shoulders.

But he knew him about as well as he knew himself, so he knew him to be an evil creature he brought about nothing good to anyone.

The smirk he bare reminded him of that.

"Tell me," He said "Tell me what really happened that night."

There was a silence filled with nothing but the sound of hat wretched oil falling into large puddles to the floor.

"…What?".

"That night, two weeks, two days, thirteen hours and fourteen minutes ago. What happened that cold September night?".

Nea's mind temporarily stopped working properly.

Mentions of that night would do that to him because he chose not to think about it very often.

How dare he remind him of it.

He knew full well what happened and he had told him so many times over.

Just how many more times did he need to admit his guilt before the finally sentenced him to execution?

"You," Tyki spoke again "Need to tell me exactly what happened."

But then again, the Bandersnatch was a title that only belonged to the most brutal and vile of people so it was no surprise that he'd come to a dying dog like himself to play some sort of game.

"I…" He stated softly "I killed the king of hearts, Lvellie and his child, prince Howard."

"Tell the truth."

"W-What?!".

He released his head just to strike him again, much harder this time.

"You're lying." Tyki said "Tell the truth."

"I killed them."

He hit him again.

"Tell the truth, Jabberwock."

"What do you want?!" He yelled, finally snapping.

The taste of blood was still fresh on his lips, scent of death still in his memory. He remembered wanting it so bad as the electric energy mutilated kings body. He remembered the joy he felt at the Princes screams of agony.

It was pure bliss, getting exactly what he wanted after all those years of misery and he remembered it seemingly perfectly.

But more than that, he remembered the fear, the regret, the guilt. He remembered all the things that came him after he realized exactly what he had done.

"I killed them, I know I did and I wanted it to happen."


	8. Part II Chapter II

Hello! I am joining you to the sound of me quiting nanowrimo because I wanted to finish this before I wrote another novel. Hopefully by this point, America isn't being torn apart by angry social media people about Trump. Worry not, God is in control. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Good day and God bless!

The vicious smirk that overtook his face signaled to Nea that he had done something very wrong.

That smile was saved only for the most pathetic of humans. Corpses. Orphans. Victims of the most horrendous of crimes.

Why did he look at him like that? What sort of cruelty was he planning.

"Jabberwock," He muttered hauntingly as he stepped a few steps backwards like he was dancing "You've lost all contact with your power."

That caught Nea off gaurd. His shallow gaze wondered.

Now that he thought about it, it was true. He could not feel the gentle buzz in his skull or the fleet footed spiders under his skin. He felt odd without the electric energy in his blood that he endured for the last five years, numb almost as though he was floating.

He could no longer feel it's power, it's will. It was almost as though the power of the Jabberwock had disappeared completely from him

What had happened? Had they detached him completely?

Otherwise, he would have blasted that smirk off of Tyki's face quicker than a lightning bolt.

"H-How did you…?".

"Because if it wasn't," He stated "You would have noticed the presence of… another."

"Another?".

"Yes."

He began to grow agitated by his beating about the bush.

"What are you talking about?!" He growled "Why am I awake?! Where is the Jabberwock's power?! What's happening?!".

With one swift motion, Tyki took hold of his shoulder and pulled his weak and vulnerable form from the the floor.

"For a free man," He said as he began to walk "You talk far too much."

He pulled him along to a place Nea knew not. He hardly had either the strength or will to resist.

The sharp turns and changing of directions made him nauseous, even if they were few. The sound of a metal gate opening wide echoed in the hardly conscious corners of his aching mind.

There were alien smells and sounds all around him like a choir or a beautiful painting blurred by water, blending all the wrong colours into a ghastly shade of grey.

He wondered why, if it wasn't a dream, Tyki would do something like this. Was it orders? Was he doing this on his own accord?

He was fully aware that himself from a another dimension despised him and to top it all off, he was quite loyal to the late king and his children.

How could he even stand being around him after what he had done?

But soon enough, he felt dryness take of his skin and Tyki came to an abrupt stop.

"Cyril." Tyki's voice echoed so Nea could assume they were in a large metal chamber, most likely an elevator.

"He's not here." Moaned a voice Nea immediately recognized as Cyril, otherwise known as the hatter. Being his brother, he had the tendency to follow Tyki anywhere and everywhere with that snake-like smile of his.

Despite his unnerving demeanor, Nea aways found himself becoming envious of the pair

It always made him feel a little more alone.

"Do you think he deceived us"

"Don't be ridiculous. I sense his presence. He will join us soon."

Nea sensed urgency in thier tones. Thats how he knew they were acting of thier own accord.

"…Hatter."

Soon enough, from the dark blur his world had become, the hatter immerged, looking as stuck up and flamboyant as ever.

"Jabberwock." He greeted back in disgust "You look as horrid as ever."

"As do you, as do you." He retorted.

Cyril was about to make a comeback when Tyki intervened.

"Silence, Cyril." He said "Its my fault he looks like this, anyways."

Cyril straightened his necktie akwardly, muttering a quick apology.

Nea didn't because he wasn't sorry at all.

But he was quick to note the look in his eye. He was akward and yet, sad. Almost as though he, to, believed that he hadn't killed the King and crown prince Howard that night.

He suddenly began to feel very cold. Chills crawled their way up his spine and he did not know why.

But his confusion was interrupted by the elevator coming to a screeching halt and the chain link door sliding open and the trio was greeted by the stars, the pale moonlight and fresh night air. Ko

The first breath he took burnt at his lungs and throat and brought tears to his eyes.

Although he never thought the simple sky, moon and stars he slept under every night could be so beautiful.

He found himself walking on his own just to get another look at Gods crystalline sky.

Such a thing is often taken for granted but he, being a newly freed man, took in all he could.

"We don't have time to smell the roses, Jabberwock." Complained Cyril.

"Get in the plane." Tyki told Nea abruptly.

Nea hardly concerned himself with the massive bronze aircraft that also accompanied them on the room and focused further on attempting to find his favorite constellations because, if he was a free man, he seemingly had al the time in the world

"What if I don't want to?"

"You must get in the plane."

He cast the other him a quick glance.

"I belong here. " He countered.

"No you do not."

"I did kill them."

"We have reason to believe you did not commit the crime. A testimony."

Nea had just about grown completely tired of this joke.

Yes, the king was a monster but he at least deserved the respect of his death being treated with truth.

He turned around sharply, preparing to reply.

"What the heck kind of-!"

"Mine."

And just like that, with a single hardly audible word, the murderer was silenced

He could not speak nor did he want to because he turned around to see that Tyki and Cyril were no where to be seen. That was not the problem. They always had the tendency to do that but that was not the problem.

He looked into the eyes of himself. A kinder softer version of himself-

He didn't, couldn't, wouldn't believe what he saw-

This was, undoubtedly, a trick of some sort in his mind but who could have conjured this up? No one knew about him but himself.

What was this person he saw before him and why did it seem so real?

"…..Mana?"

The name slipped past his lips so easily, it scared him.


	9. Part II Chapter III

Back again with more wierd bull crap. How are things with you? One day, this plot should actually go somewhere. For now, I have school and sleep to attend to but yay! The big reunion! I'm so darn excited! Please enjoy and review.

Bushes of hot pink chrysanthemums were going to grow from the foliage all around this scene. Under the beautiful sunrise, faded blues and icey teals blended with gold all along this fresh horizon, Nea recognized the buds immediately.

His mother had many of these flowers in a bed outside his bedroom window. He would be to afraid to admit that he loved them.

One of the few chores he willfully complied for was when he and his brother would water the flowers with thier little yellow watering cans on a hot summer day.

He remembered the taste of the dirt, the sweat and the blood on the plane of his hand when he licked them.

He vaguely remembered pulling them from the roots to press them in one of his textbooks because the beauty of the flower concerned him far more than his education.

Nastolgia flooded his senses and perhaps that's what he was afraid of all this time.

When he was a true free man, he did not let the flowers grow. He poisoned the ground to kill them before they had a chance to taste the light of day.

If he could have his way, no flower would bloom except for his mother's blossoms.

He did not want to remember. He did not want to cry again.

It was difficult and he certainly did not like his best efforts being mocked like they could do any better than he did.

He was a little kid playing a game he didn't even know the rules to. He was deceived, he was played the fool and now they just kicked and jeered for an unnatural amount of hours.

He had grown quite tired.

"Stop it, Tyki!"

"This illusion is stupid!"

Despite the fact that he knew for a fact that the fragile creature before him was an illusion created by the Bandersnatch himself, ever since it lay it's soft golden eyes quite like his own on the environment like he really existed in this universe, Nea began to sweat profusely.

His hands were cold. They shook violently and his knees felt weak. He hadn't felt this nervous since royal gaurd first presented him to late king. He threw up twice.

Of course, he pinned this on the illusion as well even though there had never been a single instance that one of Tyki's had effected him physically. Not one time.

"Erase it! It doesn't belong here!"

He turned away from it and began to walk towards the edge of this ever so slanted rooftop to distract himself with the view of the rising smoke from the factories that mass produced nothing but bad memories and filling for small graves with thier child labour and harsh working conditions.

He dwelled on the thought for a moment.

This was no less a prison than his garden of stars a few hundred stories under foot. Escaping one just bound you with another set of chains, stronger than before.

It was almost as though others was no escape at all with thoughts like these making the illusion of freedom that much less beautiful.

It was at that moment that he became just that more aware of the closing distance between the do called illusion and himself.

He stiffened.

"Why won't you disappear?"

"Because I am not an illusion." He replied, his voice sounding hoarse and dry.

"You should not be here."

For a moment, he began to feel brave and he turned his head to the one who claimed to be his twin brother.

He just assumed it would not break him to see him again either way. He had grown stronger since that time long ago amongst the flower beds of pink chrysanthemums.

"Neither should you."

Sudden physical contact shocked him. He turned to find the so called illusions hand out reached to touch his ice cold cheek.

The warmth of his touch and the kindness in his eyes was undeniably real. Something about it brought him back to his senses if only for a moment.

"You are bleeding…" He breathed gently "Who did this to you?"

That action brought back memories. Despite his immaturity and overall childlike nature, the Mana he knew had his rare moments when he would play the elder sibling.

Smirking briefly, he pushed his hand away gently just to look off the the light tat now turned the sky bright blue.

"It does not matter."

"It does."

Mana retracted his hand further with an element of utter sadness in his features.

He was remembering things, to. Tears spilled over the his eyelids as all the guilt returned to him with a brutal vengeance.

"I'm sorry…. I'm so sorry…. I really should have gone with you…."

"Yes."

No longer desiring any more proof, he pulled his brother into a hesitant and cold embrace.

"You probably should have."


	10. Part II Chapter IV

(And we're back! Hello again! I hope you're day is amazing! I own nothing and please enjoy! But man, this got dumb fast but, you know what? I'm doing this anyway. Please read and review!)

"Oh, what a sight to behold~!"

The sudden booming tone of Cyril all around him snapped him out of his haze as pushed Mana to a safe distance away and then step in front of him as a sort of gaurd because even with his power gone, he still believed he could defend Manda from his otherworldly acquaintance.

"Hatter!"

He felt a spontaneous and very strong breeze touch past his face, drawing his attention to one specific spot.

The scent of flowers was overtaken the smell of burnt fleash and meat. It made him sick to his stomach.

"A reunion. A bond." An all too familiar smoke like being took shape on the center of the rooftop, clearing lightly to reveal the solid form of a heart shaped door. "It is almost enough to make me jealous~!"

"Cheshire's door…?" Nea recognized it as the portals created by Cyril's daughter. "What is this?!"

"Well," Soon enough, Cyril materialized beside it like he had been standing there the whole time and, to Nea's remorse, he probably was. "Now that it's here, we have no choice but to pay the toll."

"The toll?" Nea paused for a moment before reaching into his mouth and taking out the tooth Tyki had nocked out a little bit previous to that "Will this suffice?"

Cyril sneered "Not at all."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure!"

Nea smirked at his growing irritation. He knew how much the man despised his daughter's obvious favouritism.

"It will complete her baby teeth collection."

"No part of your bloody body will pay the toll!"

And yet, he knew what he truly meant and let the tooth fall from his hand and hit the ground.

"It won't work because I'm not the Jabberwock anymore," He hissed soberly "Right?"

Cyril, to, sobered and nodded.

Despite the fact that Nea loathed what his life had become, being imprisoned in a room, being drained of life, being used as a vessel for the energy of the whole city, now that it was gone, he felt empty and weak like all of it was for nothing.

Somehow, he felt disappointed.

"But don't be so blue." Tyki materialized on the other side of the door, looking far more pleased then his brother in a sickening manner "We would not have summoned her door if we didn't have a sufficient… replacement."

Nea was just about to ask what he meant by that when he shooshed him with one finger on his lips and removed something from his coat.

"What….?"

And just as the words left his mouth, Tyki threw it as hard as was natural to him.

That's when it happened.

"…. No!"

Mana found it very suspicious how the air was nocked out of him so completely and utterly, leaving his mouth feeling rusty and dry like the old cogs of a broken clock at the bottom of a river.

"…No! This isn't right!"

He was temporarily tied to the cold shingles by invisible bonds of aches and pains but once he found the strength returning to his arms, all gravity seemingly shifted and his body felt lighter than air but only for one mystical moment.

"How could you do this!?"

The ringing in his ears was not a melody he liked to hear so he was thankful when it began to fade along with the numbness that had consumed his whole being.

But to his awe and slight horror, he was screaming.

He did not know what caused it but he was screaming very loudly till it was hardly audible but he did not know how to stop.

But along side this was one distinguishable best, the heat of another, the heat of his brother beside him.

That made him happy and yet, why was he screaming?

"He is your identical twin brother, correct?" Tyki grinned, taking a few easy steps forward "For years, scientist have been trying to clone those worthy of being vessels but they found nothing but failure. So why not let nature do it instead?"

Nea glared daggers at him furiously, kneeling beside the trembling form of his brother.

"You monster…." He growled "Ill kill you!"

Tyki eyed the odd Mana individual and the yellow burns of power that now clawed over his skin like scars.

The Jabberwock was now infesting and infecting his pure and fragile body with no intention of holding back. That is what happens when a carrier of the portal pathogen receives the signal injection that called the star into his body completely.

But for the most part, this ceremony was done in a safer place. He guessed they'd have to blame it on some sort of gas leak that broke out.

"For the most part, the Jabberwock's family is supposed to recieve special protection." Cyril mused "But when said Jabberwock slaughters the whole royal family, I guess that policy is nullified."

"No, Cyril." Tyki snapped his way "We have the brothers testimony that he is innocent, so to appease the people and do the right thing, the Jabberwock will be kept in his torture chamber and giving a chance to prove his innocence."

"I killed them!" The once very powerful Jabberwock was now on his feet, facing them "I am guilty of the crime!"

"But according to him," Tyki grinned as he pointed to Mana "You did nothing of the sort."

"Why does his testimony even matter?"

"It is simple. He asked nicely that we believe him."

"Youre insane…"

"No," He looked him straight in the eyes and for a moment, Nea thought he saw a hint of regret but he dismissed it immediately "I'm just following orders. "

"Hurry this up, Tyki." Cyril groaned as he walked "Or we'll be late for tea."

"Right." Tyki sighed as he suddenly turned to face Mana who graveled on the floor in a fetel position.

"Don't touch him. " Nea stepped forward as well to block his path.

But that's when he spoke.

"Wait!" He yelped, agony evident in his frantic tone "Just wait!"

"…Yes, Jabberwock?" Tyki stepped in front of him like he didn't mean any harm to his person and spoke softly.

"I… You said I'd be the Jabberwock-!" He choked out, his face down and fingers clawing into the shingles desperately as the presence of a supernova became ever more present in his body by every second. "That… That he would not have to die….. Can I still-?!"

"Yes. As was promised. You will become the Jabberwock by becoming his replacement by taking his torture chamber till he comes to save you." He said "Because, you see, I was there when the royal family was slaughtered and I have absolutely no idea how this was faked so, in the end, only your brother can prove his innocence and that's exactly the opertunity he was given."

His voice was soothing, reassuring, relaxing. Any fears he once held close sense to slip from his fingers like sand, out of sight, out of mind. For one moment, he was completely out of his mind, clawing at the edges that was completely out of sight.

He took a steady deep breath and exhaled like it was his last breath and pushed himself up to a sitting position.

He reached out to grab a nearby shard of a broken shingle. His long bronze hair he pulled into the shaking grasp of the other hand.

"Let it be, then."

In a second, he cut his hair short with the shingle's sharp edge, all to much like Nea's own.

And for that one second, all laws and respect aside, he promised he'd find a way to destroy the royal gaurd. Every last one of them.

At one moment in time, he would have excepted something like this willingly, thinking he deserved it but now that they involved thier petty thirst for revenge and the innocent life of his brother, things would be different.

Tyki nodded respectfully.

"Thank you for your cooperation." He spoke as he picked up ever strand of hair dropped and stood.

"Cyril." He opened his palm and the hair lifted from the ground as Cyril carried it from his hand to his own with telekinesis "This should be more than enough to get a you through."

"Thank you kindly." The hatter whispered as he turned to face Nea "Its time for us to go, once Jabberwock."

But to his surprise, said once Jabberwock looked distant, his mind on other things. His anger, perhaps, but with how empty and unhappy he had become over the last few months, Cyril found him oddly difficult to read.

Luckily for him, he said what was weighing on his mind.

"You idiot… You imbecile!" He snapped and Mana raised his head, aware he was referring to him but merely refused to look "Why on earth would you come here…?! What the hell were you thinking?!"

Any sane person could see past his hurtful words to see that he, himself was hurt, worried, afraid, weak and the only way he knew how to deal with it was to lash out.

He knew of nothing else to say under this full blue moon.

"What about mother?…" At last loosing is temper when memories of the woman who raised him resurfaced, he turned to face his brother to do something, hit him, anything "You were all she had-!"

But what he hadn't seen coming was that Mana had approached him first and was but a few inches away.

The words died in his throat.

He just stood there stiffly, his newly cut bangs falling over his face, hiding his eyes.

It was unsettling to see him so still. For a moment, he had the appearance of one of those old black and white photos from the attic. For just one moment, he looked dead.

"Mother passed away in her sleep yesterday."

He said those words so easily like it was a conceivable concept in Nea's mind. Like his mind hadn't gone completely blank at the implications of what he just implied.

"…What?"

"I have nothing… else…" He continued, slowly lifting his head to reveal his eyes to reveal not tears, but blood, black liquid and other things completely impossible to recognize "So… I don't…. really….. understand…."

"What are you saying…?"

"Why…. You're…. Yelling at me….."

At that moment, the heat, the radiation, the smell became close to unbearable but Nea didn't leave.

Mana raised his scraped and bruised hands to his brothers chest and just before he pushed him through Cheshire's doorway, he whispered these words.

"But please tell Red that I'm so so sorry."


	11. Part II Chapter V

(Hello again! I own nothing and I hope you enjoy! By the way, my father picked up ff xv last night and I am quite enjoying it. I did not think it would actually ever be made, so this is cool. Anyways, good day and God bless!)

One thing Nea knew for sure was that this ordeal was not a chance to prove his innocence, rather it was just another part of the execution trial. The trial that only those that committed the worst of atrocities in the nation.

The trial was composed of a hundred forms of torture, one for every day the criminal was in prison. They get worst as they go along too from simple nail pulling to submersion in semi acidic oils but the hundredth day is when the criminal is taken to a podium for all the city to see and is shot in the head by the leader of the royal gaurd which, in this case, was the Hatter, Cyril.

In a petty excuse for further revenge, they found his twin brother somehow and had him trade places with him so that he would wonder the face of the land hopelessly trying to save him through proving he didn't commit a crime he was, in fact, guilty of.

But he refused to play thier game. He was not a dog that would grovel at thier feet begging for some sort of mercy.

The royal gaurd made the mistake of challenging him to a game. They named thier conditions and Nea excepted.

But no matter the rules or the people he played against, he did not loose easily and was fully willing to put up a fight.

The only problem was that he would be trying to find a way out of a prison he, himself, designed to be indestructible and inescapable.

He had made himself a small hideout quite a few years ago in the basement of an old abandoned farmhouse. He had made several like it in several different locations and thus particular one was not his favorite but it was the only one that had my been discovered by the royal gaurd shortly after he was sentenced.

A wet layer of dust covered all of the furniture; The torn up couch in the corner and the two screechy stools by the wooden desk by the lamp.

The silence seemed to have a voice of its own, greeting with memories and nostalgia.

Luckily for him, this was the hideout he kept his plans and designs for the grand prison.

The oil lamp flickered on after he turn the switch, revealing a set of black scrolls scattered atop in random order.

Despite this, he quickly snatched the one he was looking for. It was the largest of them all.

After setting himself down on a stool, he dusted it off and undid the brown ribbon in the middle, letting the leathery parchment unravel in his hand.

There were, written in white chalk ink the original plans for the dungeon he had made.

As is customary, the Jabberwock not only powers the whole city but he or she also is given jurisdiction over the designs of battle forts and dungeons and the authority to choose the next king.

Nea was often praised for his skill when it came to designs but he could have never Forseen that his skill would get him into trouble.

After a good three hours of studying the papers again and again and again, he came out fruitless because he could not, for the life of him, find a flaw in his work.

But, in this case, it is not his life but someone else's.

He leaned his head back and stretched.

He didn't have much time because the illusionary smoke he set up quite a distance away was not going to occupy Tyki for long and yet he could not seem to find anything but a perfect equation.

But on the subject of time, he had a good twenty hours before they took an innocent man to his execution and that was not enough time to find a flaw in his creations to break him out.

Even if he did succeed, what would he do then? Put himself in his place?

Him dying was for the most part, tolerable because he was leaving behind absolutely nothing, no friends who loved him and certainly no family.

It's one heck of alot easier to die when there's nothing to live for.

Now that he thought about it, could he really do that to Mana?

Surely after he breathed his last, they would force Mana to power the city till his dying day. A fate worse than death.

The shards of a grudge he had held for several years still stabbed into the corners of his heart, thinking he had somehow betrayed him by not going with him that night but some how, he could not feel the same anymore.

When he saw him again on the rooftop, he was the same, acting as proof that nostalgia had not polluted his memories as he had once assumed.

He was the same boy he had known, grown up with, loved and missed so dearly.

He could have done it for a shell of Mana's former self but this was something he could not do.

He took a deep breath and exhaled, excepting that he needed to find another way to get them both out safe, sound and free.

Pulling himself to his feet, he threw the scroll back onto the desk and smiled.

"Oh, Mana… What am I going to do with you."

The scrolls, desks, stools and couch ignited well and quickly when he threw the lamp on the ground.

But ten minutes later, the house was set violently ablaze, fire clawing out the windows and black smoke rising high into the sky with Nea standing outside to witness the scene.

The golden grass and fresh wind blew through his bronze hair as he thought deep.

The royal gaurd was sure to come and out the fire out but they'd be too late. The secrets he kept here died here and he found some satisfaction in that fact.


	12. Part II Chapter VI

(Hello again. Seriously though. Seriously though. Seriously. Though. Final fantasy xv. So crazy. So good. Also, I've taken up an anime recently. It's called 'One Piece'. I don't know if you've heard of it… Pffft. Okay, I'm done. I'm sorry. Anyways, I own nothing and I hope you enjoy! Good day and God bless!)

Nea and his dime a dozen leather boots trudged through the mud, his impatience growing with every step.

The scent of smoke and hot wind followed him like a shadow and all the people in the street were walking the opposite direct of himself, bumping his shoulders and shoving him out of the way at every known opertunity.

They walked to be innocent bystanders at the scene of a house fire that had gotten a little out of hand because of how dead and dry the fields surrounding it had become.

It was often a known fat that when fires would get out of hand, a celebrity from the royal gaurd would come put it out.

Nea was walking to some sort of place to see what was taking so bloody long.

He could hear the fire raging in the distance.

He stopped momentarily to see if anyone was attempting to quell the flames only to dismiss the thought, feeling quite silly.

Road, the Cheshire cat put out the fires or arson terrorism for the most part with the duchess, Lulubell and tweedle dee and tweedle dum, also known as Jasdevi but it was the Bandersnatch and the Hatter who put out the large flames that got out of hand and threatened the city. Because of their popularity that Nea would never quite understand, being that one is a notorious murderer and the other a married man, women of various different ages would put themselves at risk just to get a glimpse of the two at work.

He sighed, suddenly feeling some sympathy for his otherworldly self.

None the less, this was his problem, his responsibility and he had to deal with it before the damage gave him more trouble than he would like.

And besides, he had a favor to ask of him.

But after about thirty minutes of trudging through the lifeless ally ways were the citizens of Wonderland dumped their various wastes and garbage, he was almost convinced the royal gaurd was hiding from him or at least had taken to the skies to taunt people who cared with their presence.

Almost at the end, the sunlight peaked just around the corner.

He noticed that the morning was waning and evening was coming quicker than he would like.

He was running out of time.

But just then, he caught ear of a voice that sounded disturbingly similar to a dying elk calling out just one last mating call.

"Oh, why must you be so stubborn!?"

"Hatter?" Nea muttered to himself, recognizing the voice.

The voice came from the ally beside him.

He got up against the wall and turned the corner in caution.

Cautiously, he cast a glance.

"Come out of that filth this instant or no dinner for a week, you hear me!"

What he saw in that ally way was the rather odd sight if the Hatter in the fleash, all dressed prim and proper as usual, directing all his fatherly scolding at a large rusty trash can.

He meant that as literally as possible.

There he was, jabbing a gloved finger at an inanimate object like anything would obey him if he whined enough.

It was actually quite funny and yet, it was not the oddest thing he had caught him doing, by far.

At last, he finally made himself known.

"Boxes of trash don't need dinner." Nea said mockingly as he stepped forward for him to see "Its time you learned the truth, Hatter."

Cyril, at the sound of his voice, leapt like a scared cat. But once he turned his head to gaze upon who it truly was, he let out a rather exaggerated sigh of relief.

The utter genuine look of relief on his face suddenly began to freak Nea out and he began to regret making himself known.

"Oh, it's you!" He cried in delight as he approached him "Come on, quickly now."

Without so much as his compliance, Cyril seized hold of his wrist and yanked him in the general direction of his disobedient dumpster.

"Quickly, I need your help!"

"What the bloody hell for?"

"Tyki is taking Wisely, so I needed to watch the Wanderer."

"What? Why?"

And then he released him, all the while jabbing a finger at the metal crate.

"But he," He declared "Wont leave that filthy dumpster!"

And before Nea had really any idea what was going on, Cyril disaster from his sight to attend to some sort of business with a few final words remaining airborne momentarily.

The only ones he distinguish were "Watch him".

Did he just dump his troubles on him?

Nea was not in a place to disobey him and he certainly did not want to get on their bad side if he was going to butter them up for a favor.

And yet he could not help but sigh heavily because he was not sure what he got into or what he was really supposed to be doing here in the first place.

But he was distracted when he heard the sound of some sort of wet slopping inside the dumpster and his curiosity immediately got the best of him.

Thinking of absolutely nothing, his fingers immediately took hold of the dumpster lid and lifted it so very slowly.

With the screeching of the hindges and the light as it slowly poured in and all over the contents inside, Nea caught sight of something moving.

He became hopeful that it was some adorable stray kitten or racoon that he could take home but his hopes were dashed at the familiar sight of those large grey eyes glaring daggers into his own.

"Wanderer….?" He muttered "Is that you?"

Obviously, he knew that due to Tykis temper, the boy could not reply but he did not need much proof.

Wanderer, otherwise known as Red, was a meister and a royal guardsman in training so it would only make sense that his family would drag him along to train in stuff like putting out fires in hopes that it would complete his transformation.

And since said accident with Tykis temper, the boy had become increasingly difficult so it would only make sense that he'd hide from Cyril in the one place he'd refuse to even go near.

Yet he could not help but wonder why he was hiding here to begin with.

He was just about to ask when Red raised his little gloved hands and began to move them about like he was casting a spell.

He was just about to ask about that, to until the action resonated with a memory from quite a few years ago.

"Since when," He smirked at the boy "Did you know sign language?"

And like the true royal guardsman he would probably grow up to be, he blatantly ignored his question and continued to sign these words.

"Where is Mana you bloody blighter?"


	13. Part II Chapter VII

(I own nothing. Howdy y'all.. You know, for the life of me, I have no idea why every time I have some sort of hope for square enix, they always take a nose dive to the ground like a poorly made paper air plane. At this point, I'm quite sick of the bull. Forgive my language. Anyways, please enjoy. Good day and God bless.)

One thing you may not have known when first seeing the two was that shortly after Nea arrived here, Red came through the portal as well but in a far worse state.

Nea felt intended to go through the portal and, being somewhat of a prodigy in science, let something he referred to as a catalyst; A very strong and radioactive magnetic meteorite he found as a child that would hod his own matter and change it with out causing any damage or change to his person. This, in turn, allowed there to be two versions of him living in the same dimension, him and Tyki.

Only people from his world his world did, but the few that did had strong enough bodies to be compatible with the Jabberwock and those from wonderland would die instantly from the pull in his world so they kept the portal open with dark energy from the royal gaurd in hopes that some unfortunate soul would wonder into the portal and become thier Jabberwock if possible.

Luckily, shortly after his arrival, Red's mangled body appeared at the portal sight. Because he did not have a catalyst of any sort, the magnetic field tore him apart and he absorbed his other half from this demension.

If it wasn't for Tyki and the light pathogen they immediately exposed him to, he would not be here today.

Yes, the various elemental pathogens were a horrendous plague spawned by by the miss use of energy but this was all part of an experiment put together by Nea himself.

You see, every member of the royal gaurd was once a light meister who projected thier health onto others, slowly killing themselves. But one day, due to some sort of circumstance, thier pathogen became corrupt and they transformed into a shadow meister, someone who steals the health from those around them.

The experiment was to see if someone from the other dimension could be successfully transformed into a shadow meister like the ones of thier world.

If it succeeded, they could expose the Jabberwock himself, making a seemingly immortal Jabberwock and getting rid of the need for a replacement every time the current one died.

Nea thought he was being sneaky and productive with this project and the nobles freely funded it.

He ordered Tyki to adopt the boy now known as the wanderer like how his own brother adopted Road but Tyki did not consider himself good enough to adopt a child so he, instead, took him in as his younger brother.

By the looks of it, that didn't turn out so good, either.

The boy often hid from Tyki in Nea's closet like he expected him to be nicer. He did not intend to be nice to him or act like the parent he never had and yet he did some to that extent anyway?

He started giving him advice and comfort that he did not want. He started listening to his problems and teasing him because he thought his reactions were adorable like some sort of guardian or uncle.

And yet he still continued the experiment. Something about it made him feel close to him and what could he say? He liked him.

He wondered if his actual adoptive family was jealous of how Nea always paid for his fun things, his education, planned his birthdays and knew him probably better than anyone else here.

He sure knew Tyki resented him quite a bit but that was for a variety of things.

Cyril despised him because of how his daughter felt about him.

Road pretended to be fuel to those she loved and pretended to love those she despised so she was hardly anything but a constant shadow haunting him where ever he went in a guise of affection.

And the white rabbit, Wisely, well, he was indifferent. If he or Red were to die tomorrow, he doubted he would care in the slightest and that was far worse than hatred.

He soon realized that he was probably the only one who actually cared about the boy's existence or even noticed him at all.

He began to regret ever establishing the experiment, especially after Tyki ripped out his vocal cords in a fit of rage. They lived amongst some of the worst kinds of monsters and here he was, trying to turn him into one of them like anything about that was right.

He did not want Red to become a shadow meister. He wouldn't let that happen. He added that to the pile of promises he doubted his human self could fulfill.

That's when he'd ask the most important question.

Despite all the teasing, all the cruelty, all he had done to him and all that had happened, could Red maybe care for him, to?

He didn't know. He had never been that good with kids.


	14. Part II Chapter VIII

(Hello again. Hi. Greetings. Buna dimineata. I am not proud of this SUPER LONG chapter. It's smelt like old flip flops. Please don't beat me up. I also still love Shumiko. Her art is so cute and emotional. Also, I started one piece and I'm already tearing up over some minor character dog. Should I be concerned? I hope you enjoy. Good day and God bless!)

"Let me get this straight. Mana taught you sign language?" Said Nea, utterly perplexed.

The rich scent of smoke died down and was soon replaced by masses of women cheering in the distance.

Red, despite Nea's nonexistent efforts to get him out of the dumpster, had not budged an inch and obviously did not intend to till he got what he asked for, which just happened to be a man who was sentenced death in a few hours.

Seemingly without a care in the world, Nea rested his face in his arms which were resting song the rim of dumpster.

He kicked up dirt with his foot every once and a while as the conversation continued his way, rather then Red's.

"Since when did he know sign language?"

His yellow gaze drifted off to the sky as he tried to recall when Mana became so good at anything and if he was even around for such a thing.

Red noticed and, being in just as big of a hurry as Nea should have been, proceeded to clap his hands like he was some noble asking for an encore at an opera.

Of course, it did.

"Whats this?" He asked.

"Where is Mana." Red signed again. His motions were jerked and forced because he was growing irritated as this was about the eighth time he asked.

Nea just chuckled.

Tyki obviously let something about the switch slip.

"So," He inquired suddenly "How did you two meet, anyway? You've always been a bit of a shut in in my eyes."

Red's bad eye twitched at he comment.

It was only because of the experiment and his forced exposure to the right pathogen that had yet to see more than a few hours of time in the sun.

Nea's mind, however, was else where.

Red's left arm was a completely limp broken thing. Naturally, he should not have been able to move it at all but right now, he was moving it Ike he had the ability to do so for the last five years.

Even without the Jabberwock, he could still sense it. The most forceful and offensive power a light meister has is his lasers. Somehow, Red was projecting his lasers into his arm and controlling it seemingly telepathically.

He knew for a fact that Red was not nearly strong enough to do that.

The only thing Nea could think of that could bring about such an odd phenomenon was some sort of grand emotion. That begged the grander question, why did finding Mana mean so much to him?

"But Red," He continued again "It really is not nice to keep secrets."

Nea always found that he could make the boy comply with little trouble if he just looked him in the eyes and held the contact long enough.

That is exactly what he did in this instance because some things just never seemed to change in wonderland.

All the while, he thought. How Mana met him is the better question. He never knew his brother to be good with difficult children like the one sitting in front of him, much less social in a world alien to his own. Why would Tyki, his almost constant guardian, let him meet strangers? He may have been a vile person but he was not one to cause a pathogen breakout in the middle of the kingdom he served.

And just when his pondering was about to rage out of control, Red, at long last, signed his answer.

"I may" He signed hesitantly like he was somehow betraying Mana by telling him this information "Have been kidnapped."

"Oh? By who, might I ask."

"…Mana."

"Come again?" Was his immediate response.

What Red had just said was comprehended in his mind. He understood every word. On top of things, Red was as serious as a rather large bolder when he was truthful so he could trust his words.

The only problem was that he knew that couldn't be true.

He skipped backwards to stand himself up straight.

"Sorry," He spoke playfully yet seriously "But I really don't think Mana would-"

He stopped himself in his own words, seemingly without reason.

Right now, he realized he could not have sounded anymore like Mana if he tried.

Was that aditude given to him by the person from us memories not exactly what got him into this mess to begin with?

But Mana had convinced himself that in the five years they'd grown apart that he could never commit a murder. He was so wrong.

Nea, on the other hand, utterly believed his own words.

He now felt incredibly guilty for calling him and imbecile and what not. What a hypocritical Jabberwock he was.

He began to laugh, much to Red's dismay.

He noticed this quickly.

So, for reasons others could never understand, he excepted that his twin was capable of kidnapping a child and did not resent that fact because he could never hate him even if he tried and all Red's legal guardians were monsters, including himself.

"Ah, my apologies." Nea said with a short but bitter laugh and a wave of his gloved hand "I appear to have been blinded by memories as well. It appears to be that me and my twin are more alike than I once thought. Please continue your story."

Red was hesitant again like he was truly offended by his interruption. Had he grown so weak to his antics in his absence?

But if he was not going to continue his story, Nea had a story of his own to tell.

He began to pace in a tight circle, lightly dancing as he kicked up dust.

"You know, Red," He began to say as the memories flooded back to him in a far better light than but a few days before "When I was younger, me and Mana were as close as could be. We shared a room, all of his belongings were just as much mine as mine was his."

He stopped momentarily and turned his eyes to the gathering storm clouds overhead. A light rain was in the future. It didn't take a genius to see that.

"But I always felt that our dear mother favored Mana over me. I did badly in school. Mana had far better grades. Why did the world need two Mana's anyway? So I went my own way. The only problem was that, everything I did," He turned to Red "Mana wanted to do, to. I aways thought I'd drag him down with my unruliness but he never left my side no matter what society offered him."

His golden eyes dimmed as memories flooded him mind and shrouded his sight. This used to be one of his most painful memories and somehow the hurt still lingered from the anger he felt throughout these five long years.

"I thought that would never change," He muttered "Until that one night."

At this, Red became more interested, almost scared. His little head peaked through the dumpster to hear him better. He was shocked to see that the usually cold and insensitive Jabberwock now looked rather sad.

"I had found something. An escape from our miserable mundane lives. A portal of all things." He said, the excitement he felt at the time visible in his narration "I was so happy. I thought we'd be adventurers like in the stories but, for some reason, he didn't want to go with me."

"No, not for no reason. He wanted to stay with Mother. He wanted to go to school, make friends and make her happy. It was just as I feared. I was dragging him down. In the end, he had potential to be a very wealthy and successful man and my silly adventures had no part in his life."

"I felt betrayed so I ran off to my portal, not really caring if I died or not. I went through the portal and for a few days here, I felt like I was free, needed and important like mother and Mana always wanted me to be."

"That illusion was soon shattered. I was soon imprisoned in this awful place. I had never felt more trapped and yet, I think it would have made it all the more bearable if he just came with me." His voice broken at the end of his sentence, a delicate knot forming in his throat. He did his best to ignore it "In the end, I really didn't care about adventures or fun. All I really wanted was to be by his side…"

Something distracted him.

It was the sound of a wet sniffle and a muted hiccup.

He looked to see Red standing up straight with his head lowered just enough for his bangs to hide his eyes. Hurried, he dropped into a sitting position.

The sniffles did not stop.

Softly, he approached the boy.

"Red?" He asked.

He rubbed his eyes and nose violently and continued to curl into a ball amongst the banana peels, discarded plastic wrap, empty boxes and jumjum feathers.

"Are you… crying?"

His shaking hands then began to move in the air around him, trying to communicate a logical sentence.

What Nea picked up from his seemingly random words was 'All your fault', 'Ice cream', 'If only', and 'Never got to say goodbye'. In his incomplete sentences, he discovered the meaning behind it.

Before the boy dried himself out with excessive use of his lasers, Nea got close enough to him and took hold of his wrists softly to hold them still. He squirmed alot less then he thought he would. He just went limp in his grasp, his body shaking with silent sobs.

"Don't start worrying so much. A cynical pessimistic little Red isn't cute at all." Nea told him, attempting to quench his worries "You'll see him again. I will save him, I promise."

He did not believe him. He wanted to but he couldn't. Even Nea had trouble believing his own words.

But he could not afford to think like that. Even though there were only a few hours left, it was not over till it was over.

"I promise I will." He let go of the boy once his sobs quieted down.

His trembling hands just hung suspended like he was contemplating what to say next.

"I had a dream once." He signed "I was the Jabberwocky's son and we were a happy family."

That caught Nea off gaurd. He tilted his head in confusion.

"That sounds like an odd dream." He replied.

"It was not you. You were different." He continued "You were smiling. It felt very real. It was a good dream."

He looked at him with a tear stained face and an emotion in his expression that spoke more about what he felt then his words.

"That same day, Mana came through the portal." He signed "How did I dream about someone I've never met before?"

Despite all his knowledge, Nea actually did not have an answer to that. In his mind, he was just flattered that Red's dream was for him to adopt him instead and to be a kinder person to him. Perhaps it wasn't Mana at all.

He very obviously did not think it was possible and Red saw this.

"He said he'd dreamed the same. He said he dreamed that he was my father."

It was not sudden, but Nea's brain soon enough began to ache very badly. He pinched the bridge of his nose in attempt to ease the pain.

Yes, he was fully aware of what Red was saying and the proof he held. It would certainly explain the sudden love he had gained for his brother when he couldn't have known him for any longer than a few hours but it really wasn't possible and it was a really hectic few months, what with him murdering the king and the crown prince, being tortured for two months, suddenly being thrown from prison and reunited with Mana only to have him thrown into prison and Nea given the task of finding some sort of proof that he didn't do a crime that he did, in fact commit and he had been wondering around the city for several hours and he really just wanted to sleep for a few hours-

And that's when it hit him.

Mana had no way of knowing about the catalyst so he had no way of acquiring one before arriving here. He probably rushed in out of excitement seeing his brother again.

It was the same with Red and the him that existed in this universe was absorbed into himself.

Could the same thing have happened to Mana?

"That idiot." He muttered, he mind suddenly it up with realization.

It all made sense now.

Why couldn't he see it before.

In this universe, another Mana adopted another Red as his own child.

When the Mana and Red from his universe arrived, they absorbed them along with thier memories. What they saw was a life that could have had if things were just different.

This seemed like a good moment to release the breath he didn't know he was holding but that was something that only seemed to happen in literature.

He was an uncle? Mana was a father? That's inconceivable!

The adult responsibilities that suddenly dropped on him from some unforeseeable outcome was a bit too much for him to bare.

He really needed to save Mana now so that he could dump all said responsibilities on him instead.

He suddenly forums himself energised and hyper, ready to force Tyki to do exactly what he wanted to do, in other words.

Yes, little Red was signing "What is it?" and "Whats wrong?" in his peripheral vision but he hardly cared right now.

To silence him, he closed his eyes and held three fingers to look at.

With every passing second, he lowered one.

By the time Red realized what was happening, it was already too late.

The last finger was lowered.

"Jabberwock!" Called a voice just turning the corner into the ally way "Come out come out, where ever you are!"

At that moment, Nea reached forward suddenly while Red was distracted, grabbing by the colar of the shirt and he yanked, pulling him from his protective dumpster with ease.

He was pulled forward, choking lightly at the action and then quickly pulled into Nea's arms. He was going to struggle bit Nea held him in an almost deadly tight grip, holding his limbs down and still.

"Hello Bandersnatch!" Nea called back "Come for your brother, have you?"

The dark silhouette of Tyki entered the ally, just as Nea had predicted.

"Well," He sighed with a shameful tip of his hat as he approached them "I thank you for watching him while he was being rebellious."

"My pleasure," Nea smiled darkly "I was just being a good Jabberwock, making sure my dear project stayed out of project."

Tyki stopped in his tracks momentarily.

"Mind letting the wanderer go?" He asked.

Nea complied and released the boy on the filth covered ground.

But just before he could leave and just subtle enough for only the boy to notice, he passed on the message in sign language.

"Mana says he's sorry."

For a moment, the shock was very visible in Red's eyes but he burried and went to his legal guardian. Tyki just looked at him once he came close enough and sighed.

"Well, because of my brother's mistake," He stated dully "We owe you a very minor debt."

"Yes." Nea's grin widened as the oath the royal guardsman were under worked to his advantage "And you know what that means."

"Well played, Jabberwock." He looked up, his golden eyes meeting Nea's identical ones "Name your price."


	15. Part II Chapter IX

(Back again with more Nea! I own nothing and I hope you enjoy! I tried a bit harder on this one so I'm sorry if it's still smelly. I hope it has not been boring thus far. If you have any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them out because I am still but an amateur. Please read and review. Good day and God bless!)

A hint was all he asked for. The hint that was due him and the hint they kept from him in hopes that he would fail. Maybe they were just waiting for him to ask. They seemed more than willing to speak but only in riddles because a royal guardsman did not take kindly to his oath of debt being used against him.

None the less, when he got his hint, Nea was satisfied.

"Why does the crow weep?"

Those were the words he left with before vanishing to the place they always vanished to and the place no one but a shadow meister could follow.

It was thier custom, thier habit, thier secret, thier buisness where the rabbit hole ended.

Rain drops from the ashen coloured sky chilled him to the bone.

It fell upon the rose gardens, washing the red roses of the blood they bathed in, leaving them bare and white for the light to see and judge accordingly.

It did not matter much because, once the rain let up, the man who took care of the roses, the undertaker Komui Lee would emerge from the shadows of his dungeon once more to paint them like he always.

Surrounding the prickly bushes on every corner, trapping them in this morbid place, was angular black railing that reached up to an average grown man's waist.

The bars lining the middle were twisted into decorative classic images and pictures all intended to tell a tale, like that of the founding father of Wonderland and the three girls he put in charge of his belongings that soon grew into a vast and beloved city that welcomed all.

There were seven gardens of false red roses in the courtyard of Crow's Tomb that were arranged in a circular pattern with a road saved with maroon bricks leading around, through and in-between the gardens.

His favorite tale, however, was depicted on the cage of the center garden.

It showed the adventures of the once King of hearts, King Yeager and the adventures his reign held with the first of the royal guardsman, the Cheshire.

Wether the stories be truth or lies, Nea always loved that garden.

Steams and puddles of rainwater had formed on the path and foliage. Over centuries of rainfall on this place, the metal and brick used to build this place had been painted weak and tainted by rust, the past splendor long washed away. The erosion was visible in every corner.

It was a lonely and sorrowful place, infected with a poisonous spirit of death.

But a foot from Nea's toes were the stone steps, around fifteen smooth steps of maroon marble that ascended up to the twin doors of Crow's tomb, the grave of the royal families of Wonderland all throughout the centuries.

The crow was the countries symbol with the image of the bird adorning the flag, the stamp and the royal .crown.

It was easy to find out that Tyki had meant this place in the hint he gifted him but in all the years Nea had known him, he had soon learned that the man always had something hidden behind his polite words.

Despite the fact that he knew he must, he was utterly hesitant about entering the building because he was sure that it was a trap.

The guardsman definitely desired petty revenge for what he had done to thier king. He could feel it in thier words, thier eyes and thier actions.

They desired his blood.

Yet he recalled them letting it slip that it was orders that influenced thier actions and that they were not entirely acting on thier own accord.

But who? Who gave them orders to initiate this sick game?

They were utterly loyal to the king and his chosen successor, no matter how corrupt and nothing seemed to change that fact. No other human in the whole kingdom had authority to command them except the Jabberwock and that particular role in the government was currently an empty throne.

For all their villainy, they did not succumb to threats or bribery. They were the most honourable kind of monsters.

Yet they were still being ordered and it was more than blatant that they did not approve of it.

That was what he was stuck on.

Tyki, himself, was supposed to give him that hint but he chose not to tell him.

Who ever was pulling the strings behind the curtain wanted Nea to see something. It was the guardsman that wanted him to fail the game.

That's why he had to take matters into his own hands and use his oath against him, much to Tykis dismay.

But here he was, standing underneath a heavy rain, too fearful of a few ghosts and skeletons to go inside the building.

Recognizing what little time he had left to win, stealer himself and pushed himself through the doors of the grand tomb.

The grand gothic mansion was a dimmly lit place, home of nothing but wild animals, the bodies of the dead kings and the undertaker, the man forced to care for the place being a rather poor noble.

When Nea was designated as the Jabberwock, prince Howard, his brothers and his sisters took him to Crow's tomb.

It was their annual visit, a tradition for all royal children to inspire them to strive for higher accomplishments then they were gifted with at birth.

Tewaku was very educated on the building and practicly knew every kings name by heart. She was cold but a kind girl at heart. He knew that much by now. She would hang around the back of the group and sketch the images of the great kings of old carved upon the walls and towering stone pillars with her white chalk and black slate.

Tokusa was always one to scare him with stories of ghosts and demons hiding in every corner. He hardly believed them. Despite this, he found that he was actually quite fun to talk to. Of course Madarao, who would lean up against the pillars to keep an eye on all of them at once, always called out their fooling around and kindly demanded they behave themselves.

Goushi didn't speak a word to him. Kiredori spoke for him. He could hardly read the expressions of either but he knew they did not like him at all. He was a foreigner after all, an invader in their peaceful and isolated life.

The air was musky and dusty, scented heavily with the mold and filth left to sit throughout the years. It was nostalgic. He breathed it all in and let it all sit inside him till it discovered the crimes he swept under the carpet.

And then there was Howard, the short and cynical prince chosen to inherit the crown. The one who walked through the tomb like it was his first time every time with eyes wide with wonder and awe. He held a childish love and admiration for his father and every single one of his noble ancestors like they never committed the devilish crimes that still scared the land to this day.

He was of excellent character and even better intelligence but it never failed to bother Nea how he chose to blind himself to the crimes of the past.

His footsteps resounded and echoed through the vast hallways like music. It was very easy to get lost in this place no matter how many times one visited. It was almost as though the hallways twisted and the rooms changed shape every time you turned your back, like, despite being the tomb of many, this place was alive, somehow.

In the dim light of the waning day, he could still make out the images and what they meant on the marble floor.

Depicted in beautiful shimmering shades of brown, red and black was the tale of king Yeager and one of his most notable accomplishments.

It was said that, over three centuries ago, Yeager was but a traveling scholar who befriended all things he met, even the stars in the sky.

That was the first time in recorded history that celestial grappling witchcraft was committed.

Yeager befriended the brightest star in the sky and won it's loyalty. That star has been known for many years now as the Jabberwock, the star that energises the whole city of Wonderland. In return for Yeager's friendship, it promised to lead him and his children to prosperity as the king of a vast kingdom.

He gazed down at the image of a white skinned women with a kind smile and long golden hair. The Jabberwock was often depicted as a woman.

But it always smiled in the images so Nea was always confused why the power inside him felt so angry and resentful.

That was, of course, until he realized that what the Jabberwock desired was dismissed like some petty demand from a child. The king made decisions based on his own selfish desires and nothing else.

A man was accused of murdering a whole family and Nea felt the Jabberwock telling him in his gut that the man was innocent. He for the king, the princes, everyone but he was executed, none the less. They said it was because the people needed someone to blame for a tragedy obviously caused by a house fire and killing that man did exactly that.

He felt the Jabberwock telling him that the crops were becoming steadily unhealthy because of the poisons farmers would put in the fields to keep pests away. He told the king this but he immediately shot him down because the warlocks who sell the poisons are a vital ally in the army and could not be lost because of some petty concerns.

This among a great deal of other wrongs disturbed Nea but nothing prepared him for what he found just a week before he was sentenced to death.

The Jabberwock before him did not die of old age like most. Rather, he was assassinated. He was killed just a week after Howard was announced the crown prince simply because he spoke too much.

He was murdered because he simply threatened to reveal to the masses that, despite the entirety of the court insisting that he was chosen by the Jabberwock, Malcolm C. Lvellie was never meant to be king.

Most would not believe it but the Jabberwock was no longer a friend of Wonderland's royal family. Over the centuries, it was betrayed by those it once trusted and was trapped on this wretched earth as a prisoner, constantly being drained of its power and life for the sake of fueling humanity's neverending greed and selfishness.

Humans had committed a grave sin. They had drug the stars from the sky to recieve seemingly infinite power. It was but another of thier pathetic and overwhelmingly cruel attempts to become gods.

Jokes on them. A human can never be a god but every human, no matter how pure or innocent, no matter what they accomplished or what they prevented, is fully capable of becoming a demon.

Nea's body cast a dark shadow that cast it's way across the walls and wrapped it's way across the room.

The light of the world cast his body as a dark silhouette.

One hand limp at his side and the other reaching up to touch the black gate that sepperated him from a small square garden, the bed of seven shallow graves.

Tokusa.

Madarao.

Tewaku.

Kiredori.

Goushi.

Howard.

Lvellie.

Every name written in stone, big blocky letters as though to laugh at Nea, to make some sort of fun of the blood on his hands.

He did not breath when he looked.

It seemed hard enough to deal with it when he was trapped, abandoned in a prison cell to wait for the time of his death to come but to see all seven of them here, lined up and together like the family like they always hoped they could be, was almost unbearable.

He cared nothing for Lvellie but the children beside him did not deserve to die for the sins of their father.

Their laughter, their tears, their smiles, their groans and complaints, their words all remained a fresh wound in his mind that continued to bleed.

It was at this moment that it truly dawned on Nea exactly what he did.

They were dead.

They were dead and he killed them.

He balled his fists so tightly, it hurt.

Mana, possible the only person who still cared for him, still trusted him, still believed in him was going to pay for his crimes if he didn't save him, somehow.

He may have been just as much of a monster as those he judged but if Mana died, if Mana was murdered by that wretched royal gaurd he did not think he could take it.

He hurried to wipe away the single tear that fell from his eye.

Cursing under his breath, he looked to the graves once more, almost wishing the dead could speak and that all those ghost Tokusa made up stories about were reality.

"What am I missing!?" He yelled "What did Tyki want me to see?!…"

As he sunk to his knees, hands still clawing at the gate, he let the tears fall because he knew he could stop them just as much as he could stop the rain.

He really was quite useless.


	16. Intermission II

(Hello to all! Just saw Rogue one. Half decent. Darth vader was great. I don't actually recommend it. Apologies. I don't have more to say. Being the fact that I'm writing this ball of wierd, you know where my heart truly lies. Anyways please enjoy! Good day and God bless!)

Red, even from the beginning, did not know the love of a parent.

He grew up in a small and poor orphanage on the edge of town. Even though he had grown up with the sisters and the children there, he hardly knew any of them. Even now, if you asked him a single one of their names, he could not answer.

Be it rainy, sunny or snowy, he felt nothing. He was empty, a child growing up not knowing any love at all or even what it was.

He had an idea, though. People seemed to throw it around so the concept would change shape and shed it's colourful skin for new colours quite a lot but the basic concept was that it meant you really wanted to keep someone around.

He really didn't worry his little red head about it because no one was very important to him.

But ever since a few days ago, he had suddenly come into possession of these memories that he never remembered making.

Now his head of hair was much longer then it was back then, tickling his shoulders and scruff when he let it down. Tyki always left his Red's clothing up to Cyril and he chose nothing but the most uncomfortable and frilly shirts, tight trousers and ridiculous black ribbons to tie his hair back with, claiming that part of a being a gentleman is dressing like one.

He never believed that load of bullocks anyway.

He had sat himself upon a wooden stool, he kicked his legs to the rythm the grandfather clock made as the seconds went by just a few feet away, pushed into a corner much like he was.

He cast his eyes to its face and the numerals that framed it. It's little shrunken black hands clung to and clawed at the three and the eleven like it wished for time to move slower or stand still all together.

They obviously had clashing opinions because he would give a great deal of things just for time to speed up. Impatience eroded his composure quicker than he would like in this dark waiting room clad from head to toe with a deep gray wallpaper.

Perhaps the clock had a fondness for Sunday afternoon tea. Perhaps it lost something important to it and would do anything just to get the time with it back.

Perhaps the item lost was it's freedom. If that were so, he and the clock across from him were in a very similar situation.

In his irritation, he began the get hot and sweaty.

He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to run so very much but his little legs were just to small to out run them and his monsters to intelegent to outsmart.

There wasn't a place in wonderland that could take him away from this.

All that he could do was pray to God that just maybe the Jabberwock could find some way out of the puzzle so he would not have to bloody his fingers with the final act, that no one would.

That no one would have to take his most important person away from him when he only now met him.

That no one would have to kill his beloved father.

"Hello Red. My, aren't you looking adorable today! That colour certainly does suite you."

"Now, it has come to my attention that the royal gaurd and you, yourself have been hesitant about making your presence known to the world. I would like to change that as you are our newest member."

"You see, though it is usually my responsibility as the head of the royal gaurd to exicute those at the final act, I think it would be far more beneficial for you to do it as it is theorized that at your ninty ninth kill, you will fully transform into a shadow meister and, according to Tyki, you've killed a total of ninty eight."

"It only makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Do you have any complaints? Of course you don't."

"Tata for now~! See you at the ceremony!"


	17. Part III Chapter I

(Hello again! WARNING: SMELLY WRITING AHEAD! I own nothing! Speaking of which, I did not originally plan for this story to have sci-fi elements but here we are and I wouldn't change it. As you know, this story was made purely out of my desire to be less depressed. It has succeeded so far. Thank you so much for your support. It means so much to me. But seriously though,there were only supposed to be like five Nea chapters. Boy, did I miscalculate. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! Good day and God bless!)

"Oh, come now…"

Words were spoken coldly through clenched teeth, so close yet so far away.

"Did you… really think..."

Nea stood up, his hands stiff at his sides.

"That you came here for a few graves…?"

He heard that voice clear as day but the moment so brief, he thought the sudden chill in the air and the crunchy black centipedes making their way up his spine to his frozen brain were but a figment of his overactive imagination.

His body was not stiff by its own packed, rather it just stopped, leaving itself bare to all the evils that surrounded him.

But what evils? He was alone in this tomb with only shells of what once were the rulers of the land.

He'd feel the presence of the royal gaurd if they were there beside him and Komui would not dare approach him after all he had done.

Someone, something seemed very close to him. So close, he could taste his own blood on his lips.

But just as soon as the moment had appeared in his cold and shaken heart, it vanished. Like blinking away a shed tear, it slip away like the soft cool sand through his clawed fingers.

The goosebumps that infected his skin were gone so fast it left his skin in a stain of shock, wondering just what he had missed.

He breathed in deep and exhaled weakly. He, to his great surprise, felt safe.

His body relaxed and he was free from the force that seemingly captured his body.

All that was left was for him to ponder exactly what that was and why the sickly warm feeling of it's very existence frightened him so deeply.

He lifted his head and removed his hand from the gate, the metal long grown warm from his continued touch.

Looking to the graves once more, he saw something that was not there before.

A flock of Crow's, about twenty or so, roosted in seemingly random positions all over the garden, thier claws sunk into the stone walls, the faded pink rose bushes, the wet dirt, the unaturaly green grass that carpeted the small piece of earth, the puddles of impure rainwater that reflected their deathlike appearance.

There was just something so ill about the scene. It was as though the tomb was stripped of it's beautiful illusion and it's historical value only to be left with the sad pathetic truth that every animalistic member of the human race is but rotting fleash and bones in death and all the wealth and power in God's infinite creation cannot save you from this fate.

He was not born in wonderland so he could not deny that this occurrence would be considered strange by most. How did he not hear them coming? Why didn't they speak? Why were they silent and still as the grave?

But then one did, a soft distressful cry came from the throat of the only one roosted on a grave. Howard's, to be more specific. It stood on the corner, it's unfocused black eyes meeting his.

But that's when it dawned on his uneasy mind that one could tell by its gruff voice and size that this was a raven rather then a crow. A near perfect lookalike but a completely different creature.

What was it doing with a flock of crow's? Where was it's companion?

His thoughts were suddenly yanked to Mana, his true and only family amongst his captors and the waning sun on the horizon, flooding the sky with orange, red and brilliant yellow hues.

There was not much time left.

It was at that moment, that brief second that Nea's whole mind was shaken and his heart once again skipped several several beats at the sudden and deafening sound of a gunshot.

It's hard to understand exactly why the sound of a gunshot with travel through your mind and make you see all white for only a second.

But the second passed and the rythm and melody of the world returned.

The raven hit the floor, dead.

It all happened so fast.

He jerked his head to the left, the direction the gunshot came from, just in time to catch sight of a familiar gaze and short frilly skirt. Just a brief glimpse of the cheshire cat, Road fleeing the scene.

He immediately saw her presence as hope that someone was still trying to show him something and, in the heat of the moment, he took off after her.

"Road!" He cried. He only called her by her title in the presence of others, so whenever they were alone, playing her and her brother's favorite game of tag and what not, she was always just Road to him.

Her girlish figure, smoking pistol in hand, sprinting down the hallway filled his vision because, having known the girl for some time now, he knew just how easily the director of all portals and transport could slip from his grasp.

"Wait!"

She sharply turned the corner with ease. He attempted to duplicate the action but his feet skid and slowed him down. To make matters worse, he turned the corner to see that she now rushed up a flight of winding stairs at seemingly inhuman seeds but that did not deter him one bit.

He immediately followed her up the winding stairs.

She had quite the head start but he lept onto the slick railing, quickly gained a footing and jumped to take hold of the next one. He pulled himself up and quickly gained a rather fragile balance just to repeat the process again and again and again till his units burnt, he could feel the blisters forming on his red and puffy alms and he caught sight of the top of the stairs and the last step was his to claim.

He set off after her again, completely aware that he was unaware of what she had in store. She was a wild card and always had been.

"Catch me if you can~!" She giggled, using the same technique she used when she first stuck up on him, he now realized, to make her voice come from all corners of the room. On that note, he had absolutely no idea how she hid her presence.

He held back a smirk and slowed his pace to a standstill. He had done this before.

He stood with a long plain hallway ahead of him, the wall to the left lined with seven doors.

Images of the kings of old were carved everywhere in seemingly asymmetrical order but, by now, Nea learned not to question such things. Their mouths were always agape, their expressions an animalistic snarl like they were perminetly trapped in war. Their eyes always seemed to be looking his way no matter where he was, watching him, judging him.

He did not expect to have an audience.

The most likely room she would hide in would be the first door can the hall, the tomb of the king of mirrors.

The least likely room for her to hide in would be the door at the very end of the hall, the Lee siblings nearly empty room.

There were seven rooms along this darkly lit and gloomy hall. From this, Nea knew with almost utter certainty that Road hid the fourth room, the middle room. The balcony on he third floor, the one that overlooked the courtyard.

Immediately, he rushed to it and hastily reached for the bronze door handle. The cold metal brought him back to his senses.

He realized that she knew him just as well as he knew her so she could have just as well anticipated this move but he steeled himself, prepared to take a leap of faith.

He twisted the handle and pulled the door open. It whined fully in compliance and the sweet night air filled his lungs.

A soft breeze ruffled his bronze hair and raindrops spotted his face.

His eyes were immediately drawn to the girl seated upon the railing. Her legs crossed, her hand reached out to him. He could see some semblance of desperation in her yellow eyes and that surprised him for reasons he could not explain.

"Catch me…." She grinned bitterly, flashing her sharp and inhuman fangs as she let herself slowly let herself fall backwards "If you can…."

He did not waste a single moment.

Running so fast in such a small space, he nearly fell over the edge himself and just before it was too late, he took her small and quickly descending hand into his.

She was light so it was hardly a bit of trouble to keep her from falling from to her death.

"Silly girl…"

She replied by looking him in the eyes with a penitrating gaze.

"I don't believe you." She muttered "You are not a monster."

Road may have been one of the oldest members of the royal gaurd and she may have been immensely powerful in a number of ways but when it came down to physical resistance and strength, she was just your average ten year old girl.

She was smart, though and it only made sense that he dedication to be crown would clash with her logic but he thought it was utterly ridiculous that she needed to risk death to prove to herself that he was not a monster.

But that's when it occured to him that it was not herself she was trying to convince, but rather himself.

"Silly silly girl…" He smirked, shaking his head so softly.

"But I'm sorry."

Her sincerity pained him but he did his best to give her hand a comforting squeeze.

"Do what you must." Nea said to her, fully aware of what was coming and thankful because it was the most help he had gotten in a while.

"Do you have payment?"

With his free hand, he reached into his pocket and took from it the tooth he lost on that accursed rooftop.

When he revealed it to her, her eyes shone with amusement.

"Here," He spoke as he tossed it to her and she caught it with ease "Complete your collection."

"Are you so confident this will be enough?"

"I'm positive."

She let go of his hand, knowing that it was finally going to end tonight.

Cheshire was one of the most powerful royal gaurdsmen because she could Jared's dark energy in ways no one else could. Part of that being the ability to create portals or remarkably stable wormholes with the simple particles of her own body at the price of a toll; To her father's dismay, the worth of the toll was weighted by its importance to her and not to the rest of the world.

There was a full moon crested into the sky that starlit night.

At that very moment, all the citizens of Wonderland, both big and small, used their legs to bring themselves to a large sterile clearing just in the very center of the grand city.

It's said that the grass dies because of the blood of criminals that is spilled there.

Perhaps they are right.

"I am fascinated that the Raven is so much like a writing desk. It is easily broken, does not think for itself but carries the words of it's master no matter how untrue they may be and has four limbs that, other than standing on its own, it uses for absolutely nothing at all."

"You and the Raven really should have known this was coming."

"Pleasure to see you again, Jabberwock. It's been a while."


	18. Part III Chapter II

(Hello! Buna dimineata! Good to see you all. As usual, I own nothing. I'm running out of time so I best finish this quick. Thank you so so so so much for your support all you awesome people! It means so much to me and I totally don't deserve it! I'd also like to thank God, as well. He is the best and only God, after all. Well, I really did try and I hope you enjoy! Good day and God bless!)

Picture this. I am sure you have learned to do that over the years of your short existence.

Perchance that you are but drawn image, a scar of charcoal on a pure white canvas.

You are not as beautiful as you once thought.

It took one tumble down a towering lavastone chimney and a face for distasteful soot for the previous Jabberwock, Nea to realize that the doorframe the cheshire created led to a small space directly over a towering lavastone chimney.

He had to admit it was one of the most painful experiences of his life, he screamed like a child and he'd be sure to come up with some kind of punishment for Roads uneccisary cruilty to his person.

His mind and body could still feel every single impact like a bullet to the heart. If he hadn't many years in Wonderland and grown accustomed to the gravity levels, that fall probably would have killed him.

Laying on a rock hard floor, all speckled and spotted with the soot, his own good and the scrapes that came from, he held no animosity towards anyone but he just felt it was incredibly rude, considering the day he had.

It was there with his eyes on the ceiling that seemed to be moving towards him and away from him at the same time that he realized just how much he really missed having someone who cared.

Not someone who would pamper him like some sort of parent. Just a special someone who knew when he was sad, angry or confused and cared a little bit. Someone who made him feel relaxed rather than constantly at war with. Someone he could trust.

He longed for someone like that and, despite knowing it to be a completely selfish desire, welcomed the feeling because it felt like warm and sweet syrup.

He lay silent and still, hardly breathing out of fear that he'd start crying if he did.

He was against the idea because, despite not really feeling Ike one, he was an adult now and adults did not cry, admit they were wrong or have much of a need for anything but money and power.

His dear mother would not be so happy with the murderous, childish, stupid child he had become and, as much as he hated to admit it, pleasing her and letting her worry just a little bit less was always on his mind.

But he was young, adventurous and he hurt her. He left her alone out of anger even though she just wanted him to be happy.

And now she was gone. They were all dead and gone in the ground like the flowers he stomped on as he made his leave that fateful night.

And for one moment, did he think about her? Did he think about Mana?

Did he think about how he cast away the twin he always kept by he side and poor Mana probably blamed himself in that way he always did, taking it all on himself till he broke but he wasn't to pick up the pieces. He was here in Wonderland, wetting his hands with blood.

The single tear that slipped down his temple felt cod against his feverish and bruised skin.

He raised his hand to wipe it away.

"Did you….Experience this, to?" He wondered to the air.

"Did you…. Did you cry?"

Oh, but he did and it was all his fault but the royal gaurdsmen certainly did not make things go any smoother. As it stands, he held a vendetta against that little group.

So, he inhaled deeply and crushed all those useless feelings because would not fix this mess he got himself in and all cruilty and deviousness aside, Road was the one of the closest things he had to a friend in wonderland and had to have brought him here for a reason.

He twisted his body and pressed his palms against the floor. Once he rose, his quickly growing desire to lay back down and sleep almost clouded his logic.

He didn't though. Sleep is for the weak.

His eyes began to adjust to the nearly pitch black environment.

What immediately caught his eye were the long symmetrical rows of tables, clean and bronze and even the dust had been removed from it's smooth surface. That meant someone had been here recently and this place was still frequently in use.

Yet he could not deny that it smelled simply awful like several things had all died of a full body fungus all throughout the room and no one had ever thought to fix it. Even the air tasted revolting.

He could not help but wonder if this was some sort of closed down morgue. That would certainly explain the tables, wouldn't it.

Not to mention that awful mechanical noise in the distance. The distant echo of something wet and stiff slapping against the ground on routine over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and-

It was quite a distance away so he did not concern himself with it. It was probably a leak in the roof or a clock.

Of course, this was just what he noticed to his right. He turned to the left to find an enormous window. No more details are needed than that. It was your average window just a little over two elephants with two white drapes hung over it to conceal the occupants view of the outside world.

He reached up and touched the chilled glass from behind the curtain.

Ever since he was a child, he always found himself pegged with the strangest concepts.

While riding in a carriage with his mother and Mana, an eight year old Nea felt safe but he knew that dangerous things lurked outside but he wondered if that was important. Should you concern yourself with the space outside of a closed space you are in? From that, he deduced that only the person driving should concern himself with it.

Only the person who had really any control of the close space should worry.

He took hold of the smooth and silky curtain and pulled it along to reveal the nightly scene because he could not shake the feeling that this was what he came here for even if but part of it.

At first he saw nothing but he soon caught sight of commoners lining the streets some distance away, a single dimmly glowing candle in hand.

Just several feet from the window paine and some distance down, people of various profession; a Cook, a seemstress, a page, a child, ect.; All of which appeared as though hardly alive, just like the expression Mana bore on the rooftop. The hot wax of their steadily melting candles dropped on their hands and they hardly seemed to care at all.

But commoners spotted either sides of the empty and quiet streets like they were trying to mimic the street lamps themselves. But, looking up, he noticed that they became more condensed as the street went on till they became nothing more than a pool of indistinguishable colours and shapes all pooled at the foot of one specific wretched building.

The execution platform. A tall, rectangular, roofless building composed of gravel and painted a harsh white. There, trusted soldiers would escort a convicted criminal to the top of the tower to be shot and killed for all to see.

"Its already started?!" He hissed.

But before he could really focus, something dawned on him. That slapping sound had become quite loud, hadn't it. It sounded much closer now. It almost seemed like-

Nea jerked his whole body around so violently, it hurt.

He immediately experienced the return of the chills, the sick churning in his stomach and those crunchy threads of black centipedes crawling up and down his defenseless spine.

It occured to him that maybe, just maybe, he and Road weren't the only people in the tomb.

That maybe, perhaps that evil presence he felt was the person they claimed was giving them orders.

But standing there, in the back of the room, he immediately caught sight of that evil and false feeling in the fleash.

A darkly cloaked figure, tall and ominous with nothing of it's facial features visible behind the hood of inked fabric but a pair of two illuminated blood red eyes.

It just stood there with an appearance hardly discernable as reality or dream and Nea did not move, breath or even think out of pure fear like he had never felt before.

When you live in this wonderous world of ours, may you love it or curse it, not many can tell when something has gone very wrong. An abomination, a twisted being, a distorted piece of reality.

Nea could not deny the overwhelming feeling of hate, distress and wrongness coming from this being. Something that undoubtedly needed to be removed, destroyed, broken.

If he could compare it to anything, it would have to be nothing other than a wild animal.

But before he could put together the pieces of his composure, he already found himself gazing into the empty sockets of a twin barreled pistol in the creatures clawed figures.

"A pistol?" Was his immediate thought "How human is this creature?!"

And as soon as he sucked in a single breath, the sound of a gunshot silenced all those thoughts.

The spark that came from the gun lit up the creatures features only for a moment. What was immediately confirmed to Nea immediately was that what stood before him was a human man.

So he did the silly thing and underestimated him.

He had enough practice dodging bullets. He had enough practice killing humans. He had enough practice taking guns from people who would use them for wrong.

He silenced his fears and began to see the scene in slow motion.

Just a nearly inhuman man before him, a small round bullet speeding towards him and himself.

It was so simple.

With what little time he had, he rushed to the side to dodge the bullet, knowing that guns like those only had four bullets and if the first bullet broke the window, he'd have a chance to escape and interrupt the execution before it was too late.

It was so simple to him, at least.

But then something happened.

He had never seen any human move that quickly before. In fact, the speed of a bullet is about eight hundred miles per hour so for a normal human to run quicker than a speeding bullet was practically insane. But he was not running. It looked more like he was flying.

But even at that inhuman speed, Nea was still able to catch sight of one final thing.

The force he moved at pushed his hood back and his face was revealed. A face Nea knew. A face Nea would never forget.

His golden hair he remembered so well. His awful bowl cut. More notably, though, it was the two symmetrical moles on his forehead that really gave it away.

Could he be-?

The mysterious man took hold of Nea's shoulder and did nothing but push him in the way of the bullet.

Once it went through, he silenced his screams by taking hold of his throat and slamming him on the ground with a force that would put his tumble down the chimney to shame.

The sound of his ribs being crushed was like a melody to his ears.

And once all that was over, he let out a sigh through his clenched and animalistic teeth and looked into the golden eyes he had not seen in so long.

"I am fascinated that the Raven is so much like a writing desk. It is easily broken, does not think for itself but carries the words of it's master no matter how untrue they may be and has four limbs that, other than standing on its own, it uses for absolutely nothing at all."

He smiled.

"You and the Raven really should have known this was coming."

He smiled almost mockingly like he wanted Nea to respond but Nea could not. He could not even speak because this defied all the logic he had ever known.

Because the eyes he saw before him at this moment was none other than the eyes of prince Howard himself, the prince he murdered in cold blood.

"Pleasure to see you again, Jabberwock. It's been a while."


	19. Part III Chapter III

(FREAKING FINALLY! LINK WAS SUPPOSED TO SHOW UP AT THE TOMB LIKE A GOOD BOY, BUT I CUT IT SHORT! Ahem, anyways, I own nothing. Hello and good to see you again. By the way, its my birthday and Shumiko just updated with a figure for Allen's birthday one day early so it's alot like she was wishing me a happy birthday. I hope you enjoy. Good day and God bless! Also, have yourselves a merry Christmas!)

Howard was quiet. He was always quiet even when they found something really cute or when he tried really hard on a cake for his birthday. Even when people were shooting at them or calling them trash, he always kept his mouth sealed tightly shut.

He was not empty though, not by any sense of the word.

He was an intelligent young man, fully prepared to take on the role as king when that time would come. But, in the meantime he was perfectly content with baking sweets for and learning from his beloved father.

That's what always perplexed Nea as at first glance, he would be considered the perfect child but after knowing him truly, you would know that his father killed innocent maids in front of him and he did not even bat an eyelid. He had showed himself to be perfectly supportive of his father's cruelty.

Yet whenever he tried to call him foul or vile, he showed himself to be genuinely kind and caring friend to him and his siblings.

And yet he was quiet, an excellent child, always right, always cool headed like some sort of living porcelain doll.

Yet all he wanted was for his face to be filled with some sort of expression be it sadness, happiness or anger. If he could, he would make him feel so much pain that his face would be pouring with his emotions just to break the precious facade he clung to so desperately.

But her he lay, hardly finding the will to breath with the heavy weight of burning white agony flowing through his chest, Nea found himself eating his words like a starving man.

The cloak he wore was rough, composed of tar and raven feathers, seemingly merging with his raw bloodied fleash at points like his wrists and ankles.

The sweaty strands of golden hair fell Infront of his blood red eyes. They were the same shade as the small horns he could now poking out of his scalp.

He had never seen anything so wrong as the face from his memories fogged and distorted by anger, pure hate and remorse and the blood that seemed to drip from his skull every now and again.

He knew that if he could, he would revive the innocent blood he spilled that night, he would in a heartbeat but not like this. Not as a monster.

This thing before him was not Howard. Surely, it couldn't be him.

"Howard….?" He gasped pitifully.

At the sound of his name, he tightened his death grip on his throat and dug his inhumanly long nails in till he bled.

"Were you trying to make me break the window?" He asked suddenly, his head twitching and turning in that bird-like manner "Were you, Jabberwock?"

And he looked true like he was a parent scolding a child and genuinely expected a response.

Nea could hardly breath through his utter disbelief, squeezed throat and crushed chest but he still breathed out a single word.

"Who…"

"Who?" He replied as he leaned in just a little bit closer than Nea would have liked, the scent of rotten bodily fluids evident in his shallow rapid breaths "Who am I but the prince Howard you knew? The silly little raven in the fleash?"

But he tossed his head back in feined laughter, something so uncharacteristic to him that Nea felt the goosebumps for on his limp arms as he was helpless to endure this scene.

"But this is your fault, isn't it?" He cooled to gaze down at his wrist and the feathers that seemingly grew from it "Its your fault I became like this."

For a moment, he looked incredibly sad, almost paniced at the sight of himself.

But that moment passed.

He released Nea's throat, much to his relief, only to spread out his grotesque spider like fingers and take hold of either sides of his face.

His hands were sticky, slick and inhuman. He felt the slime deeper than skin deep. Nea forced down his vomit with all his might but he knew that he would fail.

"I woke up here and they didn't let me leave. I'm not entirely sure….."

He then gave his face a nearly crushing squeeze and held his innocent gaze like it was nothing at all. His claws dug deep into his scalp and Nea groaned weakly and pathetically, hardly even able to summon the strength or will to fight back.

"What is wrong with me…."

But then he stopped and his eyes met Nea's glazed over ones. In his gaze, Nea could not help but find his deep red eyes serene and calm like a human heart.

For a moment, he appeared in his right mind.

"I didn't break the window," He considered words carefully, licking his lips and the roof of his mouth at every opportunity, like he wasn't sure what to do or entirely in control of his mouth "Because I cannot promise the safety of the citizens."

Nea could hardly breath, let alone think through the violent rainbow coloured haze but he still caught ear of the gravity in his words so when he reached down to his injured shoulder, the bullet hole more specifically, Nea shuddered and squirmed helplessly.

"No… No…. No…..!" He moaned and whined to the point that even Howard had to admit that it was utterly pathetic.

He reached into the gaping wound, despite the shivering subject, and pushed his fingers in deep until he felt now warm metal. Once he did, he did everything in his power to take it out as slowly and painfully as possible because nothing was sweeter to him than the sound of his agony slowly becoming just a silent exhale as his whole body tensed up.

"Its not good to waste bullets on the likes of you." He said as he kicked the bullet clean of the blood "Father taught me that."

He kneeled over his shaking frame as he put the bullet back where it belonged, feeling eager to leave like never before.

Yes, he had never done this before. He had never felt this bloodlust before, in all his days but he really didn't care because every time he tried, every time he tried to be who he once was, all he could see was his sister's face screaming in agony as the Jabberwocks power tore her apart.

They did not deserve that wretched fate. He did not deserve this one.

But this Jabberwock deserved his.

They both knew that.

"But I have something I want you to see."

He readied his old firearm to the best of his ability with his broken spoiled hands.

"But till then, I want to tell you a story."

And then he pulled the trigger effortlessly.

The sound pierced the night and shards of thick glass fell around him like fallen stars on this particularly starless night. He didn't care. Ever since he woke up, he found himself incapable of enjoying any beauty of any sort. Nothing was pleasant, all brought pain.

He took hold of Nea by his injured shoulder and leapt through the window frame, finding that his speed was, again, no less than the speed of sound.

By the time his bare feet hit the ground, every candle held in the hands of a commoner and every street lamp they stood by had been stuffed out quickly and suddenly. A shadow fell over the citizens and they didn't even notice.

He cringed at the feeling of the bricks that paved the street, having not felt it in a long time. The air was chilled and fresh, but it burnt at his eyes and lungs when he'd breath too deep.

It only further reminded that he no longer belonged with these people he once treasured.

Holding Nea just a few feet above the ground, he continued, not really caring if his audience was listening.

"When I woke up, I really hoped it was all bad dream."

With a quick cock of his gun, he pointed the weapon firmly and steadily at Nea's kneecap.

Nea had already readied himself for the pain, assuming that was true use of having four bullets but when it tore through his dry fleash, shattered the bone like glass and came out the other side, his mind went blank.

He just really didn't want to experience this, to.

He began to walk to the pool of human spectors.

"But I awoke only to find that, not only hand my entire family been slaughtered by someone I once thought was my friend, but that my dear father was not actually my father. That my late mother, queen Epstain, had an affair with some sort of false priest and hid it from my father. I am the Raven among the crow's, you see."

"As it turns out, my illegitimacy was the only reason I was spared out of all my siblings, right?"

"Because when you set the Jabberwocks power free, you only killed King Levilie and Queen Epstain and the children of King Levilie and Queen Epstain. Isn't that right? "

He looked him in the eyes as he pulled him closer.

"So all my siblings and my father were all killed, but not me because I am illegitimate but I am the child of queen Epstain, so does that not make me half dead?"

An awful scowl marred his face as he stared. He didn't even blink, he didn't even have a pulse. His hands were cold and dead and he just looked at him, almost as though begging him for an explanation as for why he did this.

"It does. Scientifically, I am half dead. Half of my existence died that day. My fated death was obstructed because of this. I escaped death but at a price. Do you know what that makes me?"

Nea's eyes narrowed and he loosened his grip on his wrists. He knew the answer. He knew but he really wanted to make it through this day without excepting that he was just as much of a monster as he accused Howard of becoming.

He just wanted to drink some water and sleep this day away but he could not close his ears to this.

He could never hide from the truth.

"It makes me cursed, Jabberwock. It makes me the thing I am today."

And there it was. The truth he dreaded so so very much with all his being.

He feared it from the moment he lay eyes on his face again that maybe, just maybe, in his attempts to do something for the greater good, he accidentally did create something abominable out of a young man with a whole life and future ahead of him.

The hurt and pain was so real and genuine in his eyes that Nea let the guilt and shame he held back for so long consume all his senses.

His heart sank deep within his chest and he let the blood drip down his chin.

He did this. In his hatred, in his thirst for revenge, in his desire for change, he did this. This was his fault.

He had never felt the true gravity of his crime till this moment.

Perhaps every human in this grand mechanical world has the capability to make a wave in society, a butterfly effect that will neither break nor fix a single broken cog.

It was hard to except but every turn of the head was futile, pointless, stale folly. Men would always return to their sins and they'd always pull their faults to their side like an old friend.

Nea, just like everyone else, was just a little human.

His shoulders bumped into those of the perfectly still bystander's and when they were nocked to the ground they fell, frozen in that candle holding pose and did not get up.

At first, Nea was confused but he comforted himself, knowing that they'd be back to normal tomorrow like they always were. Their current behavior was probably just the white rabbits hypnotism.

But it was only when Howard's feet hit the cold hard steps of the entrance to the execution platform that Nea realized that it was storming rather hard. The storm clouds were large, terrifying, like monsters flying through the air. Wind blew soothing rain into his wounds and bruises in every direction and the cold awakened his senses.

He saw passing by gaurds who proceeded like everything was normal but more then that, he felt the presence of the royal gaurd and he was both relieved and terrified.

Howard now had him by the arm, dragging him up the stairs like some sort of rag doll. His head dully hit the steps at intervals.

"You see," he heard Howard continue his story with a slight nostalgic smile on his lips "Thats why I initiated this unwinnable game."

They were inside now. He could feel the sheltered air and the marble tiles underneath him. Howard's steps echoed through the long empty halls.

"This stupid child's play as soon as I heard about his arrival" His voice grew more uncharacteristic and frantic as he continued to speak "Because what better way to avenge my family then to make you witness the death of the only family you had left."

He stopped suddenly.

And that's when he said it.

"Its hard to believe that your brother is so foolish that he'd choose to die for someone like you."

And that's when it happened.

He cast his gaze skyward.

Yes, humanity's efforts for change were futile and they could not even move a pebble even if they tried but once hr came to terms with that, perhaps he could actually make a difference.

Because this was a closed pace, and he did not have to concern himself with the storm raging violently outside.

Nea lifted his head and said in the loudest, most obnoxious, energetic voice he had;

"Oh, yah! You made a game!"

Howard was utterly shocked and in his shock, he could do absolutely nothing when Nea brought up his good arm and cut the tendrils in Howard's wrist what he immediately knew to be a knife.

His hand immediately went limp and Nea was set free. He did not take this chance lightly and immediately dashed ahead of his captor who was far too overtaken by shock and bafflement to overtake him.

"What?!" He blurted as he took off towards him at his inhuman speeds.

As he ran, he saw the knife he held and was shocked to see that it was his golden knife, the one he kept hidden in his boot, but how did he know about that?

Nea must have sensed his confusion because he replied;

"Oh come now, Howard! Did you really think I, the Jabberwock who survived ninty eight days of torture would really shake and whine over one bullet wound!? Do you really think so low of me?!"

Howard growled in rage. That whole display of weakness before was just an act to steal a weapon. He should have expected as much from his most formidable fencing opponent.

But they were not children anymore and he was done playing games.

He kicked off of one step to dash forward, despite how much he hated to do it and attack him from behind. He was just in the air for a split second and yet something strange happened.

Despite his speed, Nea saw him coming and dodged by lowering his whole injured body to the ground.

He smacked right into a wall and retaliated, but to his irritation, but not by much.

"One thing I've noticed," he yelled as he limped up the stairs "Is that you are incapable of manuviering in that state! Which is a real shame because your legs don't work too well anymore, do they! "

He was being mocked. He could hardly believe it.

His anger burned. It really hurt and he just wanted the pain to end and here the cause of all his pain was, mockingly him and he just wanted him to pay for what he had done to him.

Quickly, he dashed to the level of stairs just in front of Nea to catch him by surprise. Once the moment was right, he rushed towards him with his gun at the ready, aimed for his heart.

Nea did not dodge, but retaliated be pushing the gun away with a skillful swipe of his stolen blade, causing it to fire into a nearby wall.

He tried again by clawing his fingers and aiming for the same spot but Nea took hold of his wrist, used his force as leverage and spun him around. Once he saw his back, gave him a firm kick in the back to send him tumbling a few steps down.

He immediately became scared because of how mad he was going to be about that. So, to the best of his ability, he sprinted up the stairs, his hatred for stairs diet growing with every step as his one good knee threatened to give out.

He could hear the hatter's voice. He could see the entrance to the roof. He was so close.

His lungs burnt and his whole body ached horribly. He wanted to cough out the blood in his lungs but he knew that how bad that would hurt so he kept his mouth shut.

He just had to get to the top. He just needed to make it. He just needed to save Mana.

It was easier to believe that he was in the right, that being the villian was what he wanted in the situation.

He'd freeze up and lose what little time he had left if he dared to think about how, if in his situation, Nea would not have done anything differently and that, in the end, he probably deserved revenge.

He suddenly became unfocused and it at this moment that he was struck down.

Howard took advantage of his weakness at that second and tackled him straight to the ground, or so he thought. Something definitely pushed him to the floor, causing him to strike his temple against the final step.

Dizziness overtook his mind immediately but that did not distract him from the blood dripping down his leg.

He had been shot in his good leg. He had completely lost the ability to walk.

The fact first entered his mind as unbelievable, unbearable, incomprehensible but even as tried to pull himself along, just a few feet away from the door, just a inches closer to touch it's glass, he felt the inability to move his legs inside him.

It was over. He was done.

"No…" He breathed "No…."

Howard's ghostly figure looked over him just to send his clawed hand crashing down on his head, pushing him farther to the ground.

"Its over, oh so powerful Jabberwock." He mocked "Youre finished."

"….Do you even hear yourself talk…?" Nea asked innocently in a sad attempt at a comeback but then he looked to his face and found he looked less victorious and far more sorrowful.

He realized that he deserved a great deal of thing but the only thing he could give him was an answer.

So he told him, reviving every memory of that wretched day, not missing a single detail because these secrets would not die with him.

And, really, only he was allowed to call his brother a fool. He didn't even know him.

"Hey, do you remember the undertaker's little sister?"

Howard appeared completely caught off gaurd and baffled by the question "Lenalee Lee?".

"Yah, her." Nea smirked, finding it amusing that he remembered "Lovely little Lenalee. Top soldier in her class. In a few years, she could easily become the youngest general on record."

"Seemingly no one was resistant to her. Even the king took notice of her soon enough. At first it was it was a good thing until she started complaining that he was making her uncomfortable; Mocking her femininity and touching her more than she would like."

"I saw the red flags but that one night, she expected a promotion. So when I saw what he had done, that he had…. Forced himself upon her…."

Even now, Nea could not tell you why the look of shock and disgust on Howards face was the most satisfying thing he had seen in a long time, bring that her cries and screams were still fresh in his ears, but his story was not done.

"I was rather angry because she worked so hard and he treated her so so wrong. Out of the horrible things he planned on doing or had already done, nothing made me more angry then what he did to her. For a few hours, I hated him and all who trusted or loved him."

"It was then that I let the Jabberwocks power free with the full intention of killing him and every one his toxic ideas. The Jabberwock happily complied and killed him and he children."

"It was only later that I regretted killing those innocent of his crimes. I did not believe that they'd change and I was wrong. I shed innocent blood and I am sorry."

He just looked at him and snapped sharply "Your apologies mean nothing to me."

"But,"

He smiled bitterly in response and just let his following words set in.

"The Jabberwock would not have reacted like that if she wasn't very important. It's only now that I realize that the true king of Wonderland…."

"Is Komui Lee, the undertaker, isn't it."

He retracted his hand and jumped back Ike he was burnt.

"You lie." He hissed.

"You should never have played this game," Nea laughed drily "Because in the end, it was because of your father's selfishness that he was destroyed. He brought about his own end and he was guilty of the crime."

His laughter grew stronger, despite horrid pain in his chest and his eyes grew distant.

"I won… I can't believe I won…"

Howard stood up suddenly and caught Nea by surprise.

"Howard?"

He stepped over his body and Nea attempted to grab his heel, anything to make him stop.

"Wait!"

He did not stop. He kept walking towards the door.

"He and I were monsters,"

He was not dettered. He put his hands on either sides of the twin doors to push then open.

"But you don't have to be."

With one quick shove, he pushed them open and the wind and rain began to rip at his cloak and hair.

"I should not have done that…."

And then he stepped out into the storm.

"But don't kill him!" He cried, begging for him just to hear him "He didn't do anything wrong!"

He stopped, just momentarily, just to let himself pass the point of no return. For a moment, Nea had hope but they all were immediately dashed to the ground when the once crown prince took a deep inhale and walked forward again till the night consumed his ghastly frame.

"Howard!"

With his single bloodied hand, he clawed himself forward, inch by inch, only to have the glass doors shut in his face.

"Shoot him."

Blood.

"Close your eyes. No one will blame you for it. Just know that I love you."

Black.

"I will kill you."

The metal is too cold.

"Ill kill you, you monster!"

It's too heavy.

"Just remember that I love you."

The gun fired one bullet through his forehead in the shaking hands of his son, betrayed because you were but a charcoal drawing and never left your canvas.

But he is not important right?

And yet the cream is still yummy and and the cake is still sweet.

All under the sun is vanity.


	20. Part III Chapter IV

(Man, the writing of this story just gets more and more lazy as time goes on but do I enjoy it. WARNING; IF THIS SEEMSRUSHED, ITS GECAUSE IT IS! IM REALLY SORRY! I hope you all have had a jolly Christmas and Chanukah! Anyways, I own nothing and I hope you enjoy! Good day and God bless!)

"Hello…?"

"Hello!?"

"Red? Are you there? Can anybody hear me?"

"Don't waste your energy. No one will hear you.

"What!?"

"Who is there?"

"Just your average every day Raven."

"Raven? Can Ravens talk here?"

"Hmmm, well my name is Mana."

"Do you have a name?"

"…Call me Link if you must."

"Well it's good to meet you, Link."

"Now, can you tell me where we are right now?"

"I feel like I'm falling really fast and yet I also feel like I'm floating in cold water….."

"You are falling down the rabbit hole."

"The rabbit hole?"

"You were dead."

"Dead?!"

"What do you mean!?"

"Surely that cannot be."

"You were dead."

"You are being healed."

"Healed?"

"You were shot in the head and that boy's power is healing you."

"….You mean Red, don't you?"

"Red took ninty nine lives and now he has completed his transformation into a shadow meister. Now he has revealed his talent for time manipulation, which was to be expected."

"Expected?"

"Considering who his birth mother is, it's not a surprise at all."

"Just after the execution was completed, he immediately began to reverse the time of everything in a fifty feet radius to their state an hour previous. One of the most prominent abilities if Miranda the witch."

"This included your brother, you, the three citizens I killed in the last hour and I."

"I don't know why but I trust you, Link. I believe what you say."

"Well, who have thought! My dear son has an influence on time!"

"He is such a good boy, but I sure hope he's not thinking anything cruel right now. I told him specifically that no one would name him for it."

"If you know him at all, you'll know he is."

"Well, I should be there in a moment to tell him to cease such thoughts."

"Same to Nea, as well."

"Oh, I wonder if he cried?"

"Ill have to ask him once I get back."

"And then I'll buy them both a cinnimon roll."

"Im sure they both deserve it."

"…But wait!"

"Link? If you're a bird, then why are you falling with me?"

"You talk far too much."

"Tell me, are actualy you prince Howard?"

"What?"

"The Jabberwock tells me that you are not a raven but prince Howard. Is this true?"

"…. You and I are both half dead. That is why I can speak with you."

"I was once a Howard. Now, I am just a monster."

"I don't think so."

"It does not matter what you think."

"It might be so but I still feel compelled to speak."

"You've just lost your way, you'll find. That's all. Nothing is ever truly lost but sins when they are forgiven. I don't you have truly lost who you are at all."

"Why should it matter to you?"

"I do believe you were the one who had me tortured and killed to begin with, right?"

"The Jabberwock sure thinks so."

"…. Well, tell that wretched creature to silence itself."

"The Jabberwock also says it is sorry and that you needn't be sad."

"I said silence!"

"What is it you want to say, Mr. Howard?"

"I feel as though there is something you really want to say but can't for some reason or another."

"Its alright tell."

"I will listen."

"You are correct."

"Truly, I wanted to say that I am not sorry. I do not regret my actions, despite being heavily under the influence of the curse."

"For what he did, he deserves everything to be taken from him and I have not changed that opinion."

"But rules are rules and he won so now you and he are to be set free as soon as you can. I never want to see your faces in this kingdom ever again."

"So we are being banished?"

"What of Red?"

"Take him with you. Take him and leave."

"You made him the executioner on purpose, didn't you. You did that so that we would alright, in the end."

"Why? Why would you do this?"

"Did you not thirst for revenge?"

"Don't get me wrong, Mana."

"I still despise him for what he did."

"He is the reason my family, all that ever mattered to me, is dead."

"Its just that, no matter how much I despise him or long for his blood to be spilled…"

"I would not wish this fate on even my worst enemy."

"Im so so sorry about what happened to your family and you, sir."

"It means nothing to me."

"You've won."

"As soon as you can, you will both leave."

"I will pass the throne to Komui Lee and disappear to wherever the monsters go in wonderous world of ours."

"Don't disappear. I would like to see you for real one day. "

"Are you daft?"

"Let me tell you something, sir."

"A few days ago, my brother was wildly believed to be dead."

"Because it was all I had in my lonely universe, I clung to a memory that could easily have been a dream and kept believing even when everyone else thought I was insane."

"On my brother's side of things, he believed every one was dead and gone but here you are to prove him wrong."

"What is your point?"

"My point is that maybe we, as humans don't know all we think we do."

"The fact is that all things are God's hands and miracles do happen."

"Nothing is quite as set in stone as we think."

"So are you trying to say that some of my siblings may or may not be alive in the world?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm trying to say."

"So please, please don't loose hope just yet."

"…That Jabberwock sure doesn't deserve you…."

"Hmmm? What was that?"

"Nothing at all."

"….. We are almost there."

"Good…"

"Wait! One final thing!"

"If Komui is king, will the royal gaurd still be loyal to you?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not."

"Oh dear. Should you marry the princess, then?"

"No. Dying once is quite enough for me."

"What?"

"Lets just say, Komui Lee makes the best octopus soup in the whole kingdom."

"I do not understand."

"Goodbye Mana. May our paths cross again."

"Wait, I-"

When the purest light flooded his empty mind, Nea tasted consciousness for the first time in several hours.

All was bathed in an ethereal haze, making reality appear but a mere dream at the edge of a dead man's consciousness.

Mana took a few steps forward only to find that he could not feel the ground under his feet.

He felt a sort of physical pain in his chest, so he knew he was alive

"Don't do this!"

Mana jerked his head in the direction of the anguished voice he instantly recognised.

"Nea!" He called out.

Just a couple feet from himself, he spotted the back of his brother, kneeling on the ground, holding something close.

"Nea…." He said again as he began to trot over to him, excitement pulsing through him.

As soon he reached him, he was confused to see him lunge forward again, crying out in anguish.

"Open your eyes!" He wept and it made Mana's heart hurt so much.

He knelt beside him.

"Nea, what is-!"

That's when he saw what he cradled in his arms. Rather whom.

It was him. It was his dead body he held.

At first he was perplexed as he was here and there at the same time until a third voice entered his mind.

"Have you made your decision, dear?"

He lept like a scared cat. That voice sounded so foreign and yet so familiar.

He turned himself around to face the owner of the soft voice only to find that it was a woman with golden hair and a kind motherly smile.

He would have thought that timcampy roosted on her shoulder would have been out of place but somehow, it wasn't at all.

Now that he saw her, he wasn't scared at all.

"You," He spoke "You are the Jabberwock, aren't you."

She nodded.

"Have you chosen what to do?"

"What do you mean?" He asked like a confused child.

"You could choose to fly now and have lived a life without regret, or" She pointed her delicate finger to Nea "Return to those waiting for you."

Mana was ashamed of the fact the he actually considered but living a I've without regret was something people would do anything for and yet he was brought back to his mother.

"Im sorry," He said as he turned to her with a sad smile "But I don't think my mother would like it if I died at twenty."

"I understand." She spoke.

Mana could feel the warmth of her presence and it comforted him, soft and beautiful like a lotus.

When she disappeared, he was not scared. He could still feel her near.

He looked to his brother and smiled. It was at this moment that he realized that it was all worth it. He would not have changed a thing even if he was given the choice.

This was worth the price of his future and the adoration of those around him.

This was all he ever wanted.

Just before slipping back into his body, into a dreamful sleep he was unsure when he'd wake up from, he lay a single kiss on his brothers forehead, hoping he would have faith, to.

And then he dreamt of snowflakes falling from the sky and saw no more.


	21. Epilogue

(I own nothing. Seriously, I apologise for this insult to Shumiko's beautiful art. I REALLY DID TRY, THOUGH! Please support the artist and try not to beat me up. Please enjoy! Good day and God bless!)

[SEVERAL MONTHS LATER]

What a beautiful Christmas morning it was in the Ba Long region.

A gentle snowfall blanketed the ground, erasing all the flaws, all the marks and all the scars man has inflicted on the land.

It was a new start, a wonderful cleansing in the life cycle.

All were at peace. All was quiet. All smiled.

Well, mostly Nea anyways.

Just learning that the servants did not know what Christmas was, master Nea Campbell made what appeared to behalf a dozen enchanted utterly dreadful Christmas sweaters for every heathen in his household.

The concept of the enchantment was that this sweater would remain unremovable till the clock struck twelve and Christmas had ended. Till then, they could moan and trip to him all day long for his amusement.

But today was a happy day since his darling nephew, Red was turning eleven today.

He walked through the halls, prepared to wake up the boy to tell him of today's importance because he had the tendancy to forget.

Various pictures were hung up; Roses, flying boats, cups, a portrait of himself Mimi drew without permission and a variety of other things that did not concern him.

He liked it here, he really did, and Red did to, but he would never get rid of the feeling that something was missing.

On his to Red's room, he knew exactly what.

In the room besides Red's was were he put 'him' since it was the biggest bedroom there.

Since all those months ago, Nea had almost perfect faith that he would, should, could wake up one day, soon and he really really wished he would but sometimes Mimi's complaints would get to him.

She'd tell him that he was a corpse and that he'd never wake up.

He'd always peak into the room, just to see if he was awake, just to be disappointed every time with his silence.

He really hoped he'd wake up soon, otherwise, he might actually believe that he'd never wake up.

Honestly, he could hardly make it through one year, how did Manage make it through five years of abandonment?

He was about to proceed to Reds room to attempt to forget about these morbid thoughts but it wasn't until he was just a few inches away from the door that he heard a sound.

He recognized it immediately as the sound of Mimi fretting over something.

Perhaps she tripped and broke something, the clumsy maid.

"Oh no!" She declared "This is not going to be good for either master's health!"

That's when he decided she was going to poison him and told himself not to eat anything she made for he next weak.

But it was the voice afterwards that really caught him off gaurd.

"Im so sorry miss," Someone said "I really didn't mean to cause trouble, I-"

His stomach immediately did a summersault.

Frantically, like his sanity depends on it, he through Reds neighboring door open just to be sure only to be greeted by the sureal sight of an empty bed.

A sick joke, surely.

It was just to get revenge for the sweaters, surely.

He confirmed in his mind that it was and told himself he was going to go kill every one of those heathens, to.

But, just to be truly safe, he took steady steps around the corner to the spot where he heard his obnoxious maid to begin with.

It just couldn't be, anyway.

Not now, not on Christmas morning.

"Mimi." He said, making sure to catch her off gaurd "What is this?"

She spun around, her pigtails nearly slapping him square in the nose, with her hand over her mouth and her eyes appearing quite distressed.

"Master Nea," She gasped "I-I-I don't know what-!"

He was about to demand she tell him what was going on. That was, until a second figure popped out from behind her.

Instant recognition stabbed him right in the heart because there, awake, with open eyes and colour in his face, was none there than his twin brother, Mana, awake at last.

With a simple wave of his hand, he smiled just as bright as he remembered.

"Hey!" He said.

Overall, Nea forgot to breath entirely.

(Holy nose man, I can't believe it's over. I mean, I will write more but I just really did not think I'd finish this fanfic. And on the deadline, to!? Thank you, God! Anyways, I know it's awful but I was in a huge rush. Please tell me what you think and thank you so so much for your support! It means so much to me! Now, I hope you all have a wonderful time. See you soon in the next project! Good day and God bless!)


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